WHEREAS Section 491 of the Quebec Municipal Code (Section 331 of the Cities and Towns Act) allows Council to pass by-laws to regulate the conduct of Council proceedings and for the maintenance of good order and decorum during meetings;
WHEREAS the Municipality of Shawville wishes to take action to maintain order and decorum during the meetings of the Municipal Council;
WHEREAS it is appropriate for Council to pass a by-law to this effect;
WHEREAS notice of motion of this by-law was given by
Julien Gagnon at the meeting of May 23, 2023;
TITLE
ARTICLE 1
The preamble forms an integral part of this by-law.
COUNCIL MEETINGS
ARTICLE 2
Regular meetings of Council shall be held in accordance with the schedule established by resolution of Council, on the days and at the times fixed therein, and can be amended by resolution.
ARTICLE 3
Council shall sit in the Council Chambers in the Town Hall at 350, Main Street, Shawville, Québec, or at such other place as may be fixed by resolution.
ARTICLE 4
Council meetings are public.
ARTICLE 5
The deliberations must be made in a loud and intelligible voice.
ARTICLE 6
Unless otherwise specified in the notice of meeting, special meetings of Council shall begin at 7:30 p.m.
ARTICLE 7
ELECTRONIC DEVICES, CAMERAS AND RECORDING
During the council meeting all electronic devices should be set to vibrate or be silenced, not just cell phones (laptops, pagers, etc.)
It is forbidden to photograph, film, or record, in Council chambers without notification and permission;
ORDER AND DECORUM
ARTICLE 8
The Council shall be presided over in its meetings by its Mayor or the Pro-Mayor, or, failing that, by a member chosen from among the Councillors present.
ARTICLE 9
The Mayor or any person presiding in his place shall maintain order and decorum and decides on the questions of order at meetings of council, except on appeal to council. He may order the exclusion of any person who disturbs the peace.
ARTICLE 10
The Director General shall prepare a draft agenda for any regular meeting for the members of Council and forwarded to the members of Council, together with the available materials useful in making decisions, not later than 72 hours in advance.
ARTICLE 11
The agenda for a regular meeting shall be completed and amended, if necessary, prior to its adoption, at the request of any member of the Council.
ARTICLE 12
The agenda of a regular meeting may, after adoption, be amended at any time, but only with the consent of a majority of the members of the Council present.
QUESTION PERIOD
ARTICLE 13
Council meetings shall include a period during which those present may ask oral questions or given in writing as well to Council members.
ARTICLE 14
This period shall be for a maximum of fifteen (15) minutes at each meeting and may also be extended if necessary, but may be terminated prematurely if there is no further business before the Council.
ARTICLE 15
Any member of the public present who wishes to ask a question shall:
- Identify himself beforehand;
- Address the Mayor;
- State to whom the question is directed;
- Ask only one question and one sub-question on the same subject. However, any person may ask a new question and a new sub-question when all persons wishing to ask a question have done so, and so on in turn until the end of the question period;
- Address each other in polite terms and do not use abusive or libelous language.
ARTICLE 16
Each speaker is given a maximum of five minutes to ask a question and a sub-question, after which the Mayor may end the intervention.
ARTICLE 17
The Council member to whom the question has been addressed may either respond immediately, respond at a subsequent meeting or respond in writing.
ARTICLE 18
Any member of the Council may, with the permission of the Mayor, supplement the answer given.
ARTICLE 19
Only matters of a public nature shall be permitted, as opposed to matters of private interest that do not concern the business of the Municipality.
ARTICLE 20
Any member of the public present at a Council meeting who wishes to address a member of Council or the Director General, may do so only during question period.
ARTICLE 21
Any member of the public present at a Council meeting who addresses a member of Council or the Director General during question period, may only ask questions in accordance with the rules set out in articles 7, 14 to 23.
ARTICLE 22
Any member of the public present at a Council meeting shall refrain from shouting, heckling, singing, making noise or any other action that may interfere with the proper conduct of the meeting.
ARTICLE 23
Any member of the public present at a Council meeting shall obey an order of the presiding officer relating to order and decorum during Council meetings.
WRITTEN REQUESTS
ARTICLE 24
Petitions or other written requests addressed to the Council or to any member shall not be placed on the agenda or read at the meeting, except as provided by law.
PROCEDURES FOR SUBMITTING REQUESTS, RESOLUTIONS AND PROPOSED BY-LAWS
ARTICLE 25
Resolutions and by-laws shall be presented by an elected official who shall explain the proposal to Council, or, at the request of the Mayor, by the Director General.
Once the proposal has been presented, the chairperson of the meeting shall ensure that all council members who wish to vote on the matter have had an opportunity to do so.
Once a proposed resolution or by-law has been presented, and all members of Council who wish to speak on the matter have had an opportunity to do so, a member of Council may submit a request to amend the proposal.
ARTICLE 26
When a request for amendment is made by a Council member, the Council shall first vote on the amendment presented. When the amendment is adopted, the Council shall then vote on the original draft as amended. If the amendment is not adopted, the Council shall vote on the original draft. The rules applicable to voting on the original draft shall apply to voting on the amendment.
ARTICLE 27
Any member of Council may at any time during the debate require the reading of the original proposal or amendment and the Mayor or the Director General at the request of the Mayor or the presiding member of Council presiding over the meeting, shall so read.
ARTICLE 28
At the request of the Chairperson of the meeting, the Director General may give his or her opinion or make any observations or suggestions he or she deems appropriate with respect to the matters of deliberations.
VOTE
ARTICLE 29
Votes are cast orally and, at the request of a Council member, recorded in the Council’s minute book.
ARTICLE 30
With the exception of the Mayor of the meeting, every member of the municipal Council is required to vote under penalty of the sanctions provided for by law, unless he is exempt or prevented from doing so by reason of his interest in the matter concerned, in accordance with the Act respecting elections and referendums in municipalities (RLRQ, c. E-2.2).
ARTICLE 31
All decisions must be taken by a majority of members present, except where the law requires a different majority.
ARTICLE 32
When votes are equally divided, the decision is deemed to have been made in the negative.
ARTICLE 33
The motives of individual Council members during a vote are not recorded in the minutes.
ADJOURNMENT
ARTICLE 34
Any regular or special meeting may be adjourned by the Council to another time on the same day or to another day thereafter, without it being necessary to give notice of the adjournment to the members who were not present;
No new business may be submitted or considered at an adjourned special meeting unless all Council members are present and consent.
ARTICLE 35
When there is no quorum, two Council members may adjourn the meeting one hour after the lack of quorum has been established. The time of adjournment and the names of Council members present must be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
In this case, special written notice of the adjournment must be given by the Director General to the members of Council who were not present at the time of the adjournment. Service of this notice must be recorded, at the resumption of the adjourned meeting, in the same manner as that of the notice convening a special meeting.
ARTICLE 36
Nothing in this by-law shall be construed so as to restrict the powers granted by law to members of the Municipal Council.
PENALTY
ARTICLE 37
Any person acting in contravention of articles 7, 14 to 23 of this by-law commits an offence and is liable to a minimum fine of $200 for a first offence and $400 for a subsequent offence, said fine in no case to exceed $1,000. Costs for each infraction are extra.
Failure to pay within the time limit set by the Court will render the offender liable to the penalties provided for in the Code of Penal Procedure of Quebec (RLRQ, c. C-25.1).
INTERPRETATION AND FINAL PROVISIONS
ARTICLE 38
This draft by-law will come into force in accordance with the law.
THEREFORE it is moved by Julien Gagnon, that the council of the Municipality of Shawville authorizes that By-Law Number 461 was read and adopted this day of June 27, 2023
Bill McCleary Crystal Webb
Maire Directrice Générale
