HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/22/1992 COW minutes Minutes
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
December 22, 1992
I. ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order by Mayor~Gerald L. Farley
at 8:08 p.m. Trustees present were Timothy Corcoran, Leo
Flores, Paul Moefert and~Irvana Wilks. Trustees absent
were Mark Busse and George Clowes. Also present were
Village Manager Michael Janonis, Finance Director David
Jepson and Police Chief Ronald Pavlock. In addition,
four members of the media were in attendance.
II. MINUTES OF DECEMBER 8~ 1992
The minutes of December 8, 1992 were accepted and filed.
III. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD
No citizens appeared before the Village Board.
IV. DISCUSSION REGARDING POTENTIAL CHANGES TO VILLAGE BOARD
AGENDA FORMAT
Mayer Farley~opened the discussion by explaining to the
Board that due to the absence of two .board members he
wished to limit this meeting to input by any Board member
who was requesting additional information and/or items
that may need to be further reviewed by staff for future
discussion. Trustee Wilks stated that she had a number
of points she would like to discuss, but due to the
Mayor's request she would relate four major points on
which she would like additional information to be brought
to the Trustees at the next meeting.
1) Trustee Wilks questioned the Village Attorney's
correspondence on the issue of the invocation. She
referred to a December 17, 1992 memo from Buzz Mill, page
2, comment #4. She read the point that had to do with
the issue-of an invocation as it relates to church and
state issues. She asked that the Village Manager or
Village Attorney review two Supreme Court decisions that
relate to ~this matter. These decisions were Marsh vs
Chambers, CIT 463 US 783, 77 - LED 1019, 103 Sup Ct 3330
(1982) and Lee vs Weisman, 11~ Sup Ct 2649 (1992).
2) Trustee Wilks further"requested that the number of
guidelines for voting at various types of public meetings
be reviewed by the Village Manager as she felt some of
them may not be pertinent to the discussion. Village
Manager Janonis stated that these were only copies of
past research completed by the Village Attorney that were
placed in the packet as reference material. It is the
Manager's intention to have the Village Attorney present
at the January 12, 1993 Committee of the Whole meeting
to answer any questions and give legal.opinions relative
to'any issues that may be brought forward by the Board.
He stated it would be better to have the Village Attorney
here rather than pass research memos back and forth that
could prove to be confusing. He felt that it might be
prudent to limit legal research to the specific issues
that the Board wished to pursue.
3) Trustee wilks asked that an opinion be given relative
to whether or not a Trustee could raise a motion or any
item at any time at a Village Board meeting and that if
the motion is seconded, that item would have to be
discussed. She stated that she recognized the fact that
at a special meeting discussion must be limited to items
on the published agenda, but questioned the current
practice of limiting discussion of non-agenda items at
regular Board meetings. Mayor Farley stated~that any
Board has its own prerogative to establish rules and
regulations and that this matter could be discussed at
a later date. He stated that he uses Robert's Rules of
Order as a guideline, but does not feel it necessary to
follow'it to the letter. Trustee Wilks indicated that
it was her opinion that the statutes require it, but the
question could be discussed at a future date.
~) Trustee Wilks requested that there be further research
and discussion on the Presidential Veto.' She indicated
that she did not believe that the Village-President has
the power to veto Board action. She stated that this was
done in the past and would like to have it reviewed.
Mayor Farley suggested that past local case law should
be considered in this discussion as it relates to the
Village Board and/or Liquor commission law. Mayor Farley
'stated that this has been substantiated in a court of
law. Trustee Wilks indicated~that the liquor issue was
the only decision on record.
Mayor Farley asked the Board Members if there~ was any
further discussionl There were no further comments.~
V. ]%NY OTHER BUSINESS
Trustee Wilks acknowledged the Village Manager's recent
memo reporting that Public Works Deputy Director Glen
Andler had been elected as the new president of the
Chicago Chapter of the Public Works Association.
Trustee Wilks also wanted to put on record that June
Kerstein was also named as a "Top Volunteer" by North
Shore Magazine for her Blood Donor Program. There being
no further business a motion was made to enter Executive
Session~at 8:28 p.m. Another motion was made to come out
of Executive Session at 9:06 p.m.
~ VI. ~DJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 9:06 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Chief of Police