West Cook News

The Cook County Rules and Administration Committee met Oct. 5 to establish decorum guidelines for public speakers.

Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the committee:

Board of Commissioners of Cook County Rules and Administration Committee Wednesday, October 5, 2016 10:00 AM Cook County Building, Board Room, 569 118 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois NOTICE AND AGENDA There will be a meeting of the Committee or Subcommittee of the Board of Commissioners of Cook County at the date, time and location listed above to consider the following: PUBLIC TESTIMONY Authorization as a public speaker shall only be granted to those individuals who have submitted in writing, their name, address, subject matter, and organization (if any) to the Secretary 24 hours in advance of the meeting. Duly authorized public speakers shall be called upon to deliver testimony at a time specified in the meeting agenda. Authorized public speakers who are not present during the specified time for public testimony will forfeit their allotted time to speak at the meeting. Public testimony must be germane to a specific item(s) on the meeting agenda, and the testimony must not exceed three minutes; the Secretary will keep track of the time and advise when the time for public testimony has expired. Persons authorized to provide public testimony shall not use vulgar, abusive, or otherwise inappropriate language when addressing the Board; failure to act appropriately; failure to speak to an item that is germane to the meeting, or failure to adhere to the time requirements may result in expulsion from the meeting and/or disqualify the person from providing future testimony. 16-5652 COMMITTEE MINUTES Approval of the minutes from the meeting of 9/14/2016 16-5651 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS COOK COUNTY CLERK, David Orr, presented in printed form a record of the Journal of Proceedings of the regular meeting held on 9/14/2016. 16-4645 Sponsored by: LARRY SUFFREDIN and JOHN P. DALEY, Cook County Commissioners PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDMENT AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS Page 2 of 4 BE IT ORDAINED, by the Cook County Board of Commissioners, that Chapter 2 Administration, Article III, County Board, Division 2 - Rules of Organization and Procedure, Sections 2-105 (g) and (j) (3) - Meetings of the Board of the Cook County of the Cook County Code is are hereby amended as Follows: Sec. 2-105. - Board of Commissioners; meetings of the Board. … (g) Order of business. (1) At each regular meeting of the Board, the order of business (unless otherwise directed by the Board) is as follows: a. Public testimony. b. Consent calendar c. a. New Business d. b. Committee Items Requiring Board action (2) The Board may grant members of the public leave to speak on items pending before the Board pursuant to the rules set forth in Section 2-105(i). (3) All questions relating to the priority of business shall be decided by the presiding officer, without debate, subject to appeal. (4) Meetings of the Board may commence with a prayer or invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. … (3) Consent calendar. The Consent Calendar is a compilation of proposed resolutions concerning deaths, anniversaries, and congratulations for notable achievements. Only proposed resolutions conforming to this description may be submitted to the Secretary for inclusion on the Consent Calendar, and it shall be the duty of the Secretary to prepare the Consent Calendar for any regular meeting of the Board. Proposed resolutions on the Consent Calendar are non-debatable, and shall not be read in to the record or otherwise considered individually, but shall be part of a motion to approve the Consent Calendar in its entirety. Any item on the Consent Calendar may be removed by a motion, seconded and approved, and shall then be subject to the provisions of this division as provided herein. Once a month, a Special Meeting of the Board shall be called at 9:00 am of the morning, preceding the regular meeting of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County Board of Commissioners when such meeting is convened at 118 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60602. The purpose of the Special Meeting will be to consider proposed Consent Resolutions concerning deaths, anniversaries and congratulations for notable achievements. Such Special Meetings shall have as the only agenda items the reading of the resolution, discussion of the resolution and the taking of a photo. In the months where there is no Forest Preserve meeting at 118 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60602, a Special Meeting of the Board may be called for purposes of the Consent Calendar. … Page 3 of 4 Effective date: This ordinance shall be in effect on December 1, 2016. Legislative History: 8/3/16 - Board of Commissioners - refer to the Rules and Administration Committee Legislative History: 9/14/16 - Rules and Administration Committee - accept as substituted Legislative History: 9/14/16 - Rules and Administration Committee - recommend for deferral Legislative History: 9/14/16 - Board of Commissioners - defer 16-4708 Sponsored by: ROBERT STEELE, Cook County Commissioner PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDMENT AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING DECORUM GUIDELINES FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS NOW THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED, by the Cook County Board of Commissioners that Chapter 2 Administration, Article III, County Board, Section 2-105 (i) of the Cook County Code, is hereby amended as follows: … (i) Public testimony. Subject to the provisions herein, public testimony will be permitted at regular and special meetings of the Board meetings of the Board and Committees of the Board. Authorization as a public speaker shall only be granted to those individuals who have submitted in writing, their name, address, subject matter, and organization (if any) to the Secretary 24 hours in advance of the meeting. Duly authorized public speakers shall be called upon to deliver testimony at a time specified in the meeting agenda. on any and all matters pending before the Board or in a Committee of the Board meeting on that day at only one of the following times: 1) At 9:00 am on the day of a meeting of the Board; 2) At 9:30 am when there is no meeting of the Board, but a Committee or Committees of the Board will meet and there is a meeting of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County Board of Commissioners; or 3) Thirty minutes before the first scheduled meeting of a Committee of the Board on days when there is no meeting of the Board, but a Committee or Committees of the Board will meet. The Secretary shall record and broadcast the public testimony. Pursuant to Section 2-105 (e)(3) of the Code, should a quorum not be present at a meeting of the Board or a Committee of the Board, the Commissioners present shall be competent to receive public testimony. Page 4 of 4 Public testimony must be germane to a specific item(s) on the meeting agenda, and the testimony must not exceed three minutes; the Secretary will keep track of the time and advise when the time for public testimony has expired. Persons authorized to provide public testimony shall not use vulgar, abusive or otherwise inappropriate language when addressing the Board. Failure to act appropriately; failure to speak to an item that is germane to the meeting, or failure to adhere to the time requirements may result in expulsion from the meeting and/or disqualify the person from providing future testimony. shall observe the commonly accepted rules of courtesy, decorum, dignity and good taste. Public speakers shall not: (1) make vulgar, abusive, slanderous. defamatory. obscene. threatening, or personally offensive Remarks; (2) engage in any disorderly conduct which disturbs or disrupts the orderly conduct of any meeting; (3) speak to an item that is not germane to the meeting; (4) fail to adhere to the time requirements. Public speakers shall be given notice of this rule on the agenda for any meeting. … Effective date: This ordinance shall be in effect immediately upon adoption Legislative History: 8/3/16 - Board of Commissioners - refer to the Rules and Administration Committee Legislative History: 9/14/16 - Rules and Administration Committee - accept as substituted Legislative History: 9/14/16 - Rules and Administration Committee - recommend for deferral Legislative History: 9/14/16 - Board of Commissioners – defer _______________________________ Matthew DeLeon Secretary Chairman: Suffredin Vice-Chairman: Daley Members: Fritchey, Gainer, Morrison, Schneider, Silvestri, Sims and Steele