PUBLIC COMMENT GUIDELINES
1. A written request to address the Village Board by non-members must be submitted via mail, hand delivery, or telefax such that the request arrives at the Village of Winnebago Office located at 108 West Main Street, Winnebago, Illinois, 61088, by 12:00 Noon the last business day before the day of the meeting scheduled by the Village authorities in which you would like to participate.
2. Requests must identify name of speaker, speaker’s residence address, speaker’s telephone number, subject matter, speaker’s interest (ie: pro or con), and whether or not speaker is a Village of Winnebago resident. You are encouraged to complete the “points to be raised” section, although such completion is not required.
3. Each speaker is limited to three (3) minutes. A maximum of eighteen (18) minutes shall be allowed for non-members at each meeting, except for a Public Hearing where a maximum of thirty (30) minutes shall be allowed. If a particular item is deemed by the Village President to be controversial, the Village President shall strive to allow all sides an equal amount of time to speak, subject to the total time limit as described above. In the event there are more requests submitted for the opportunity to provide public comment than there are slots available for the same at a given meeting, the Village president shall have the discretion to select those entitled to speak, taking into consideration the goal of striving to allow all sides on an equal amount of time to speak and of addressing as many pertinent issues as possible.
4. The public comment section of the meeting shall be in addition to and precede the time the Village president opens up a given meeting to pertinent questions directed to the Board. The question and answer session shall be restricted to pertinent questions only posed to the Board members, with no commentary by the questioning party. Responses to pertinent questions posed shall be to the extent deemed necessary by the Board. The Village President unilaterally, or by way of a duly passed motion, reserves the right to terminate the question and answer portion of the meeting at such time that it is deemed all relevant inquiry has been considered or the anticipated time frame for the entire meeting does not practically allow for continued question and answer discussion.
5. Visual aids may be used during the addressing of the Village Board, but no equipment shall be provided by the Village of Winnebago to use with such visual aide.
6. No abusive or profane language, unruly conduct, or personal attack commentary shall be tolerated. The Village President reserves the right to terminate a speaker’s comments before the three (3) minute time limit has been exhausted if the above guidelines are violated.
Generally, all Village meetings are held at the Village Office located at 108 West Main Street, Winnebago, Illinois. However, in the event a larger than usual crowd is expected for a given meeting, an alternate meeting site will be chosen with notification of the same given to the public in accordance with normal procedure and as required by law. For more information please contact: Village of Winnebago Office (815) 335-2020