TOWN OF MILLINOCKET
TOWN COUNCIL MEETING PROCEDURE POLICY
The Millinocket Town Council hereby adopts the following Town Council Meeting Procedure Policy:
Section 1— Intent. It is the intent of this policy to provide a general guideline on the conduct of business by the Town Council. It is not intended to conflict with the Town Charter or to be rigid in its application. The Chairperson is given latitude in its administration.
Section 2 — Quorum. A majority of the full Council shall constitute a quorum for the conduct of business.
Section 3 — Action by Council. For an item of business to be approved, a majority of the quorum present and voting must be in the affirmative, except for matters requiring a majority vote of the entire Council specifically addressed in the Town Charter.
Section 4 — Business Items. Items to be considered by the Council will be placed on a written agenda and may include the following:
A.	Roll call of members.								          1.  Recital of the Pledge of Allegiance.
B.	Approval of the minutes of the preceding meeting(s) with or without corrections.
C.	Special Presentations (15 minutes)
D.	Town Manager's Report
E.	Unfinished business.
F.	New business.
G.	There will be a separate warrant for pass through accounts.
H.	Upload packet to the Town’s Website
Section 5 — Presiding Officer. The presiding officer shall be the Chairperson.
A.	Duties of the Chairperson. The Chairperson shall preside at all meetings; preserve decorum and order; speak to points of order in preference to other members and decide such matters, subject to appeal of the entire Council by motion and second which may override the decision of the Chair; call and declare all votes; and perform other functions, presiding or ceremonial in nature, consistent with the position.
B.	In the absence of the Chairperson, the Town Clerk shall call the meeting to order; cause the roll to be called; and, upon a quorum being present, preside over 
C.	the election of a Chairperson pro tempore.

Section 6 — Actions. The Council shall act by ordinance, order, or resolve per the Town Charter. Except for appropriation orders and resolves, all such ordinances, orders, and resolves shall be confined to one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in the title. Council members or the town manager may propose ordinances, orders, or resolves. All proposed actions shall be in written format, unless the Council decides otherwise or if the action is procedural in nature.
A.	All by-laws passed by the Town Council shall be termed "Ordinances" and the enacting style shall be: "Be it ordained by the Town Council of the Town of Millinocket, in Town Council assembled..."
B.	All votes of command shall be termed "Orders" and the enacting style shall be: "It is ordered..."
C.	All votes of opinions, principles, facts, or purposes shall be "Resolves" and the enacting style shall be: "Resolved..."
D.	The Chairperson shall appoint all special committees unless otherwise directed by the Council.
Section 7 — Agendas. The town clerk shall be responsible for establishing the agenda in coordination with the Council Chairperson and the town manager, with the Council Chairperson having final approval. Meeting agendas will be distributed to all members at least 48 hours prior to the called meeting. Agendas will be posted at the Municipal Office, Town’s Website and also be advertised, when possible, in a local paper.
Section 8 — Motions, Debate, and Voting. The following process shall be used in considering a question.
A. Every member present shall vote on each matter, unless such member shall be excused or excuse him/herself due to a conflict of interest or other special reason.
Section 9 — Public Participation. Members of the public will be required to sign in if attending in person. Public attendance and participation at meetings is encouraged and valued, within reasonable guidelines that promote the accomplishment of business by the Council. Any person wishing to address the Town Council will be given the opportunity to do so in accordance with the following procedures:
A.	 Public comment shall be solicited and allowed during the discussion of each agenda item at the discretion of the Chairperson. Such public input will be received after Council and staff discussion and Council and staff will be allowed to respond to the public comments. The Chairperson may impose time limits in order to allow for as many as possible to make comments and/or to provide for the timely transaction of business. Members of the public will address the Council from the podium after stating their name and address. Comment will be limited to the subject under discussion and be limited to no more than three (3) minutes.
B.	Public comment during workshop sessions of the Council is not generally allowed unless provided by the order authorizing the session or unless solicited by the Council.
C.	A fifteen-minute period for members of the public to speak on any issue will be added to the end of the Regular Council Meeting Agenda.  Each member of the public will be allowed to speak for a period of not more than two minutes and the Council shall not enter into a debate or a question-and-answer session *unless the question can be answered in a brief statement without a debate. This will be at the discretion of the council chair.

Section 10 — Parliamentary Procedure. Unless otherwise stated in this policy or changed by action of the Council, Roberts Rules of Order shall be used as the applicable parliamentary procedure of the Council.
Section 11 — Special/Emergency Meetings. Special meetings may be called by the Chairperson or, in the case of his/her absence, disability, or refusal, by a majority of the Council. Notice of such meeting shall be served in person upon, or left at the residence of, each member of the Town Council and of the Town Manager at least 24 hours before the scheduled time of the meeting. The Town Council may meet upon shorter notice in emergency session by unanimous consent of its available members with such decision to be recorded in the minutes of such meeting.
Section 12 — Workshop Meetings. At any Council meeting, a majority of the Council may vote to hold workshop meetings at a scheduled time for a specific purpose.
Section 13 — Special Presentations by the Public. Special Presentations by the public to the Council shall be set at the discretion of the Chairperson. Special Presentations may be made by members of the public to the Town Council, provided that:  At the discretion of the Chairperson, Special Presentations may be made by members of the public to the Town Council, provided that:
A.	The presentation is related to Town business; and,
B.	The presentation is limited to no more than fifteen (15) minutes; and,
C.	A list of all speakers who will participate in the presentation is furnished to the Town Manager no later than Friday before the Council meeting so that they can be listed on the agenda.
Presentations may be made at the request of a councilor and determined by Chairperson. Nothing in this Section shall limit provided such presentations are requested by Friday of the week preceding a Council meeting, nothing in this Section shall limit the number of Special Presentations made to the Council at any meeting by a member of the Town Council, the Town Manager, the Town Attorney, Town staff, or others in the conduct of their business with the Town such as engineers, auditors, etc., provided that the Chairperson approves such request(s), after signing in and stating their name and address to the council, limited to no more than three (3) minutes.
Section 14 — Changes/Amendments to Procedures. These procedures shall not be dispensed without the unanimous consent of the members present and said dispensation shall apply only to the matter under discussion at the time. These procedures may be formally amended through the submission and consideration of a written Order adopted by a majority plus one of the Council.

In the event that Town Council meetings will be held virtually the following additions and/or changes to procedures will apply under the aforementioned Sections:

Sections 1 through 14 - All references to "votes" in the aforementioned sections must be done via "roll call," which is an audible vote.

Section 7 - Agendas - Virtual access to the Town Meetings will be subject to these same requirements.

Section 9 - Public Participation - Virtual Town Council meetings are open to the public, as are in-person meetings. In addition to the parameters set in Section 9, those interested in attending virtual meetings must provide their full name in the "waiting room", or its equivalent, before being accepted into the meeting. Those who do not provide their full name will not be admitted to the meeting. Any participant to the Virtual Town Council Meetings may be subject to being muted or removed, at the discretion of the Chair and/or host. Participants may also submit comments via "chat", or its equivalent, and will be monitored by the Chair and/or host. 

Amended 01/26/2006 Amended 09/26/2007 Amended 12/7/2015
Amended 12/8/2016
Amended 12/10/2020
*Amended 7/22/2021