Robert’s Rules of Order

Every year, Tabernacle’s committee officially adopts Robert’s Rules of Order. That’s the tool used by almost all boards to bring order to meetings and allow the group to take care of business in an efficient and predictable manner.

But, in practice, the committee uses Loosey-Goosey Rules of Order. Loosey-Goosey rules let them do whatever they want to do.

Breaking from the agenda

Just four weeks ago, at the October 24, township meeting, Mayor Sammy Moore broke from the agenda to announce that a future meeting would be set up to get citizen input into the new municipal building. (The meeting has now been setup for December 19, check the township website for details.)

There’s nothing wrong with the mayor making an announcement. Announcements are made at almost every meeting. Indeed, every agenda has a section specifically for announcements. It’s called “Reports.” When the committee gets to Reports, we hear announcements about the tree lighting ceremony, robotics events, parades, reductions in the time for public comment, vaccination programs, etc., etc., etc..

There was no reason for Mayor Moore to make his announcement after the Flag Salute. That’s just where he wanted to do it. Loosey-Goosey rules allowed it.

“Reports”

One of the committee’s loosest and goosiest practices is to take official action under the guise of a “Report.” It’s become routine for committee members to report on a subject and then say “I make a motion to do “X.” Whatever “X” is. And so, official action starts on a subject that’s never been on an agenda.

For years, Tabernacle has taken official action on a variety of important and expensive actions in “Reports,” rather than as New Business on the agenda. These include, for example, approval of annual road improvement programs, elimination of the fire company, etc..

When public business is done as a Report, it’s never listed on the agenda. There’s usually no advance paperwork. There’s no public opportunity to comment or ask questions.

The committee, lacking the paperwork, is unprepared for discussion and inclined to shoot from the hip. Sometimes, the committee looks unusually prepared. When that happens for an item that’s not listed on an agenda, it suggests that the topic was already discussed and decided in the back room.

Committeeman Sunbury’s Report

At the November 21, 2022 township meeting, residents witnessed an especially sloppy version of the committee doing New Business as if it was just a Report.

It started during Committeeman Robert Sunbury’s report. He voiced his support of an NJDEP procedure regarding a survey for implementing changes to the public use of Wharton State Forest. Curiously, during the public comment section, a citizen voiced opposition to the same NJDEP process. The citizen asked the committee to approve a resolution opposing NJDEP’s actions, which he said he had already submitted to the committee.

Committeeman Sunbury, apparently in response, drafted his own proposed resolution of support of NJDEP. He explained his reasons and read his proposed resolution into the record. He then moved that it be adopted.

The committee, after a sketchy discussion of unanswered questions and assumptions, directed the clerk to assign an official number to the resolution (2022-137). Then the committee approved it 4-1. Deputy Mayor Brown voted against it, explaining that she hadn’t seen Mr. Sunbury’s resolution. Had anybody else seen it?

The problems with the Sunbury resolution

So much was wrong with the committee’s handling of the Sunbury resolution.

First, it wasn’t a Report. It was new business. If the committee wanted to consider his resolution, it should have been listed on the November 21, meeting agenda. Or the mayor should have carried it over to the next meeting as new business.

Second, based on the citizen’s comments, the NJDEP’s proposal is generating a lot of public interest in surrounding communities. Yet no one from the public had ever seen Committeeman Sunbury’s resolution. No one was able to comment on it, regardless of whether they favored or opposed it.

Third, it wasn’t clear whether Mr. Sunbury’s resolution had been distributed to other committee members. Only Deputy Mayor Brown said she didn’t see it. If the other committee members voted on a resolution that they never saw, that’s bad government. If the other committee members saw the resolution but Deputy Mayor Brown didn’t, that’s also bad government.

Certainly the clerk didn’t have the resolution and, as clerk, it’s her job to receive and distribute it to all committee members. That way, everyone can be prepared to discuss it.

There’s a better way

The better practice for topics spontaneously raised in Reports for committee action is for the mayor to direct that they be carried over to the next meeting as an item of “New Business.”

Carrying spontaneous items over as New Business fits within the committee’s long-standing (but long ignored) procedure placing items on the agenda. That procedure is published on the township website and has been there without change for decades. “Request for agenda discussion items must be given to the Secretary of the Governing Body in writing no later than 4:00 p.m. the Wednesday before the requested meeting.”

The committee and the clerk notoriously have ignored this procedure for years.

There are many reasons to have an orderly and routine procedure for placing subjects on an agenda. It allows the clerk to distribute the paperwork to all committee members in advance. It enables committee members to read, think and prepare for the public discussion at the next meeting. (For this committee, which does little preparation, asks few questions and has virtually no discussion, that’s more aspirational than practical).

It also enables citizens to see the item on the agenda, to read the resolution and to appear at the meeting if they choose to comment or ask questions about the subject. All of this creates a paper trail.

The committee can’t change

There was a time when former Mayor Kim Brown said, on multiple occasions, that the committee wouldn’t conduct business, or introduce and adopt resolutions in Reports. But her commitment to that principal was short-lived. She resumed the practice, even after I pointed out her previous pledges. Her principles changed depending on the subject.

Under Mayor Moore, committee action in “Reports” now happens routinely. Committee members don’t expect that there is a regular order for them to introduce new business.

And for this, the committee just gave themselves a raise of $2,500, from $5000 to $7,500.