Public Comment Procedures

Procedures to allow for public participation during public meeting of the East Hempfield Board of Supervisors.

Adopted by the East Hempfield Township Board of Supervisors on:  February 6, 2019

Rationale: The adoption of these procedures is to allow a reasonable opportunity at each public meeting for residents and/or taxpayers of East Hempfield Township to comment on matters of concern, official actions or deliberations which are or may be before the Board of Supervisors.

A public comment period shall be established at the end of all Board of Supervisors public meetings to give residents and/or taxpayers the ability to raise non-agenda issues, questions and concerns.  The following guidelines are established for the public comment period:

1. The public comment portion of the public meeting will last approximately 20 minutes.
2. Any resident and/or taxpayer of the Township wishing to address the Board must first be recognized by the Chair, and then must identify him/herself by name, address and municipality of residence.
3. The speaker must direct all comments to the Board of Supervisors, not staff.
4. Each speaker will be given three (3) minutes to comment.
5. In the interest of preserving time, speakers should limit repetitious comments and, where appropriate, acknowledge agreement with a previous speaker’s comment or position.
6. If a person does not complete his/her comments on non-agenda items within the allotted public comment period, he/she will either be afforded additional time or the Board may defer the comment period to the next regularly scheduled meeting or schedule a special meeting prior to the next regular meeting.
7. No official Board action will be taken on items presented during the public comment period.  All items will automatically be referred to Township staff and/or the appropriate working group/committee for further research and discussion.  Matters addressed publicly to the Board will be taken under advisement and either the Board will respond to the person raising the issue directly at a later date, or the Board will respond to the item(s) during a future public meeting as an agenda item(s).
8. Other than during Public Comment, when recognized by the Chairman conducting the meeting, residents and/or taxpayers of East Hempfield Township may comment on issues being discussed during the meeting.
9. The above procedures may be modified at any time by a majority vote of the Board of Supervisors.
10. These procedures are to be posted in the meeting room and on the Township website.