Decision by motion

[janice67]

Whenever a topic is brought to the village council, does the council have to act, by motion,on that question.

Example. A citizen attended a council meeting stating that he was placing property for sale and wanted to give the village the first right of refusal. The council was not interested in purchasing the property. Very little discussion or time was spent to arrive at the decision. His offer was declined. However, it was not settled by a motion or official vote. It was clear that no councilperson was in favor of the purchase. Should it still have been handled with a motion etc.? Thank you.

JaniceW

[George Mervosh]

Nothing in RONR compels the council to make a motion, or even discuss it.

[Gary Novosielski]

Whenever a topic is brought to the village council, does the council have to act, by motion,on that question.

Example. A citizen attended a council meeting stating that he was placing property for sale and wanted to give the village the first right of refusal. The council was not interested in purchasing the property. Very little discussion or time was spent to arrive at the decision. His offer was declined. However, it was not settled by a motion or official vote. It was clear that no councilperson was in favor of the purchase. Should it still have been handled with a motion etc.? Thank you.

JaniceW

Since the apparent will of the council was not to act on the offer, the most efficient way of doing that was not to act, which is what they did.

If no one moved to buy it, we can assume no one wanted to buy it. Nothing improper about it. You can't force people to make a motion to do something just by proposing it.