Proposed
Meeting Code of Conduct
Town of Clyman
October 8, 2012
In the pursuit of governing efficiently,
effectively and with respectful
integrity, the following guidelines are offered
as a code of conduct for
our township meetings:
1. Those citizens wanting to be heard during
a town meeting should
sign up at the town hall before the meeting
starts and indicate the agenda
item they wish to address with the board.
2. Each citizen will be given three minutes
to address the full body
and is asked to stand, identify him/herself,
state the issue they are
addressing, and be heard. If appropriate, the
citizen will be asked to
stand in front and use a microphone to ensure
all present can hear.
3. Please speak up. Be frank, honest and candid
when
appropriate. Organize
your comments and stick to the topic. If addressing
more than one topic,
please indicate when you have finished one topic
and are ready to speak
about another topic. Please be respectful to
others. Don’t go off on a
tangent or tirade.
4. Please try to be Postive if possible. If
there is criticism to be
made, please be sure it is constructive. This
means, refrain from any
value judgments or personal attacks of any kind.
Raised voices, gossip and
language that is abusive or foul will not be
tolerated. Rather than just
being critical, try offering alternative thoughts
or solutions
5. Only the person called upon by the town
chairman is to speak. Any
kind of side commentary and conversation are
rude, distracting and
counter-productive. Be respectful of others
and give your full attention
to the speaker. Good listening is the hallmark
of a mutually respectful
environment and productive meeting.
6. The chairman will be responsible for monitoring
the time and will
give the citizen a 30 second warning if necessary
before stopping the
citizen comments. Citizens are asked to respect
the timeframe and will be
instructed to sit down after three minutes.
7. After “citizen comment”, the
town board will move on to the listed
agenda for the meeting. If the board wants comments,
further discussion or
input from the gallery, the Town chairman may
recognize and ask for a
specific person to address the board. That person
and that person only
isto address the board. The Town Board will
not tolerate outbursts of
any
kind or unsolicited comments from the gallery.
People who do not follow
these guidelines will be warned. Failure to
comply with this warning may
result in that person being expelled form the
meeting.
We assemble at each meeting with a common purpose:
to work for the
betterment of our community and its people.
While we all may not always
agree on how to address each issue that arises,
we as a board must make the
best decision for the entire Town of Clyman
based on the given options and
information available. When we as a board make
a decision, we ask you to
respect that decision. We are one body and need
to act as such. Thank you
for respecting these guidelines. |
