All of the Townships will have their Annual Town Meeting. Here is some friendly advice.
This is the only meeting where township residents have a “real say”. You can make huge changes to the Township policy and activities if you plan ahead. You need people to come, support your requests, and vote for your motions.
At some Town meetings the meeting is already preplanned by those currently in power. The Sergeant at Arms is often preselected and he can intimidate many people and prevent your views from being discussed. Every township trustee or employee has all of their family and friends there , so it may be a lot to overcome.
If you wants to speak at the Town meeting, you must ask in writing to be placed on the agenda, 30 DAYS ahead of the meeting. The 30 day written notice includes any motion which you wish to propose. Have your exact motion submitted in writing 30 days before the meeting. Also you need 15 signatures of township voters on your request.
SEE THE LAW: Here are some citation of law as presented by an association of townships for a town hall meeting.
III. ANNUAL AND SPECIAL TOWNSHIP MEETINGS
A. Annual Town Meeting
1. Date and Time
The annual town meeting, held for the transaction of the business of
the township, must occur on the second Tuesday of April in each
after 6 p.m. 60 ILCS 1/30-5. The annual town meeting (or special town
meeting) cannot be held earlier than 6 p.m. unless the time is changed by
the electors at a duly convened meeting. 60 ILCS 1/40-5; 60 ILCS 1/30-
30. The words .town meeting. have a definite and well settled meaning in
township law, and are uniformly used to describe the annual meetings of
the town for the purpose of electing township officers, and transacting
such business as the electors are by law authorized to transact. Chicago I.
& R. Co. v. Mallory, 101 Ill. 583 (1881). The place of holding annual
town meetings must be some convenient place in the township fixed by
the township board. 60 ILCS 1/30-15. Whenever the date conflicts with
the celebration of Passover, the township board may postpone the annual
town meeting to the first Tuesday following the last day of Passover. 60
ILCS 1/30-5.
Elections for township officers are held in accordance with the
consolidated schedule of elections prescribed by the general election law.
60 ILCS 1/30-5. Whenever the consolidated election as provided for in the
Election Code is rescheduled to the second Tuesday in April, the annual
town meeting must be held on the third Tuesday in April at the time
designated by the electors or the township board. 60 ILCS 1/30-5.
2. Notice of Annual Town Meeting
Notice of the time and place of holding annual and special town
meetings is given by the township clerk (or, in the clerk’s absence, the
supervisor, assessor, or collector) by posting written or printed notices in
three of the most public places in the township, at least 10 days before the
meeting and, if there is an English language newspaper published in the
township, by at least one publication in that newspaper before the
meeting. 60 ILCS 1/30-10. If the above procedures are followed, the
township electors are charged with notice of the time of the meeting and
with knowledge that any and all corporate business of the township may
then be lawfully transacted. Thorp v. King, 42 Ill. App. 513 (1891). Not
less than 10 days before the annual meeting, the township board shall
adopt an agenda for the annual meeting. A group of fifteen or more
registered voters in the township may request additional agenda items for
consideration by the electors to the township clerk by March 1. The
agenda adopted by the Board shall include such requests if relevant to the
powers granted to the electors under the Township Code. 60 ILCS 1/30-
10(b). If the agenda item is not included on the agenda for a township
annual meeting, fifteen electors may request the township clerk to order a
special meeting. However, again, the meeting must be relevant to the
powers granted to the electors under the Township Code. 60 ILCS 1/35-5.
A 2002 case involving county governments raised some doubt as to
whether new matters added to an agenda can perhaps be discussed but not
acted upon. See Rice v. Board of Trustees of Adams County, 326
Ill.App.3d 1120 (4th Dist. 2002). This could also apply to townships, but
because township electors are required to have only one meeting per year,
and because the statute allows the agenda to be added to by electors in
accordance with the procedures outlined above (so long as the agenda
item is relevant to the powers granted to the electors under the Township
Code), in order to allow both discussion and action, there is a strong
argument that action may be taken if the statutory procedures are
followed.
3. Admission to Meeting
Electors at the meeting must be verified as voters registered within
the township by the township clerk, or a designee of the township clerk,
through the use of township voter registration lists obtained by the
township clerk from the election authority having jurisdiction over the
township and updated to include voters registered no less than 28 days
before the day of the meeting. 60 ILCS 1/40-5.
4. Call to Order
The electors present are called to order by the township clerk if there
is a clerk and he or she is present. If there is no township clerk or if the
township clerk is not present, the electors may elect by acclamation one of
their number as chairman. 60 ILCS 1/40-5.
5. Recessing to Move to Larger Hall
If there are electors desiring admittance to the meeting who cannot be
admitted because of the size of the meeting hall, the chairman may
immediately recess the meeting to a time as soon as practicable and to a
place sufficiently large to accommodate at least the number of electors
present at that time within the meeting hall and those outside the meeting
hall desiring to be admitted. 60 ILCS 1/40-5.
6. Election of Moderator
The electors present must choose one of their number to preside as
moderator of the meeting. A township official may serve as moderator.
Before entering upon the duties of the office, the moderator must take an
oath, administered by the township clerk or chairman or some other
officer authorized to administer oaths, to faithfully and impartially
discharge the duties of the office. The moderator of the meeting presides
at the meeting, announces the business before the meeting, preserves
order, and decides all questions of order. The moderator has the same
power and is subject to the same penalties in connection with his or her
conduct as moderator as are judges of election under the provisions of the
general election law. 60 ILCS 1/40-5.
7. Minutes
The township clerk acts as clerk of the meeting and keeps faithful
minutes of the proceedings in a book to be known as the township record.
The clerk enters every order or direction, and all rules and regulations
made by the meeting. The entry must be signed by the clerk and the
moderator of the meeting. 60 ILCS 1/40-10.
8. Motions
All questions upon motions made at town meetings are determined
by a majority of the electors present and voting, and the moderator
ascertains and declares the result of the vote upon each question. When
the result of any vote is questioned by one or more of the electors present,
the moderator makes the vote certain by causing the voters to rise and be
counted, or by a division of the voters. 60 ILCS 1/40-15. The amount of
time which might be required for balloting at a town meeting is not
constitutionally significant so long as all qualified electors have equal
opportunity to attend and vote. Smith v. Town of Proviso, 13 Ill. App. 3d
519, 301 N.E.2d 145 (1st Dist. 1973).
9. Close of Business of the Meeting
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