Hi, Neighbors. Engaging residents in their local government is one of our primary goals at Aleppo Township. As you know, we’ve developed a revolutionary system of recording our meetings, posting them to YouTube, and circulating a digest of what was discussed. The goal of this process is to make it possible for residents who can’t attend the meetings to stay connected with what is going on.
Our system is designed to allow time for residents to provide feedback and keep track of action and proposed action from one meeting to the next. We hope that if everybody understands why we’re doing some of the things we’re doing, it will make it easier to participate.
General Principles And Sources of Rules
- The rules of procedure for our meetings are governed by a document called the Rules for Board of Commissioners Meetings (the “Aleppo Meeting Rules“).
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- Click here to read the Aleppo Meeting Rules.
- The president of the Board of Commissioners is the presiding officer of meetings.
- The Aleppo Meeting Rules are not to designed to confuse issues or cause members to be hampered by needless procedural questions.
- My overarching goal is to make residents aware of what is going on in their local government.
- Our process for board action is designed to work with the digest system and get feedback from residents who watch the meetings online.
- The Aleppo Meeting Rules adopt Robert’s Rules of Order as our general guide for procedure.
Basics Of Motions
- A motion is a request that the Board take action.
- The Board cannot take action without a motion.
- Motions must be specific.
- Writing motions in advance expedites the process.
- Residents cannot accurately provide feedback to nonspecific motions.
- A motion must be made before a topic may be discussed.
The Meeting Process In Aleppo
- Aleppo holds two meetings every month: a Workshop Meeting and a Legislative Meeting.
- We generally vote on Main Motions of Importance only at the Legislative Meeting.
- We may vote on inconsequential Main Motions or on issues with time constraints at the Workshop Meeting.
Keeping Track Of Our Motions
- We use a program called WorkFlowy and a list within WorkFlowy called the Action Log to track motions from one meeting to the next.
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- Click here to see our Action Log.
How It All Works Together
- Between the Workshop Meeting and the Legislative Meeting, we send out a digest that includes the topics discussed at the Workshop, a link to the video of the Workshop Meeting, and a request for feedback.
- Residents should watch the video of issues that interest them and provide feedback by reply email.
- At the Legislative Meeting, we will read any email received from citizens, re-open the subject for discussion, then vote.
Closing Thoughts
- We welcome feedback on ways to improve this process.
- We appreciate your patience as we work to make this system everything that it needs to be in order to support our goal of increasing citizen participation.
- It’s your government and our goal is to make it easy for you to participate.
Thanks for participating!
Best wishes,
Matthew Doebler
Former Aleppo Township Commissioner / Creator of Digest and Meeting Broadcast Processes