obligation to present correspondence during next township meeting

[Guest Tim l.]

I sent a letter to the Township about an error in an ordinance.  Do they have an obligation to address it at a meeting?.  Can they just ignore it?

[Richard Brown]

This would depend on state and local law and township council procedures.  Nothing in RONR dictates what a governmental body must do, at least outside of actual meeting procedures for councils that have adopted RONR as the parliamentary authority.  This is not a parliamentary procedure question.  It is a political and/or local policy question.

[Transpower]

Guest_Tim_I:  You could simply ask the township to put a discussion of your letter on the next meeting's agenda.

[Guest Nancy N.]

Guest_Tim_I:  You could simply ask the township to put a discussion of your letter on the next meeting's agenda.

 

Yes.  Request this in another letter.  The earlier letter gets read first. Next time you write them, you can save yourself a stamp by putting the request at the end of the letter itself.

[Edgar Guest]

I sent a letter to the Township about an error in an ordinance.  Do they have an obligation to address it at a meeting?.  Can they just ignore it?

 

You may get better results by attending the next meeting (where there is typically time provided for public comment).

[Guest Guest]

Thanks for the responses.  I asked to be on the agenda but they denied the request.  Went to the meeting, but was only allowed to speak for 5 minutes and I could not ask any questions.  

[Edgar Guest]

I asked to be on the agenda but they denied the request.  Went to the meeting, but was only allowed to speak for 5 minutes and I could not ask any questions.  

 

Sounds like you might want to work to elect new town council members. Maybe even run for office yourself.

 

In the meantime, learn how to ask rhetorical questions.

[Timothy]

Sounds like you might want to work to elect new town council members. Maybe even run for office yourself.

 

In the meantime, learn how to ask rhetorical questions.

 

Or perhaps, try speaking to individual council members rather than trying to speak to the group at one time. Once you convince one council member, that council member can make the motion that is required.

[Richard Brown]

Thanks for the responses.  I asked to be on the agenda but they denied the request.  Went to the meeting, but was only allowed to speak for 5 minutes and I could not ask any questions.  

 

Agreeing with the other responses, I again urge you to check out the rules and state statutes applicable to addressing your council.  Most city councils have a time limit of two to five minutes for members of the public wishing to address the council.  Three to five minutes is most common.  If it's RESULTS you want, rather than just speaking out at a council meeting for the sake of speaking out, you will probably have much better luck by trying to communicate with the council members individually.