Council Meetings & Minutes

Ben Avon Borough Council encourages borough residents to attend its public meetings – as advertised in the New Pittsburgh Courier, published online at www.benavon.com and posted at the borough building – to observe, make comments and ask questions of their elected representatives in local government.

Council reserves time at all meetings for such public participation. The president of council calls for comments from borough residents and recognizes specifically the individual speakers.

As a matter of policy, residents must sign the attendance roster and identify themselves by name and local mailing address to address council and may speak for up to five minutes on a given topic. Residents may request additional time to address council by providing the borough secretary with the topic and reason for the request at least five business days in advance of a public meeting.  Additional time may be granted at the sole discretion of the president of council.

When members of an organization or group attend a council meeting and ask to be recognized individually, the president of council may require that a single spokesperson address council on behalf of the entire group.

By asking to be recognized to address council, speakers accept responsibility for following common standards of civility, respect and regard for the personal dignity of all other persons in attendance. Failure to adhere to these standards may result in additional restriction of allotted time at the sole discretion of the president of council.

The president of council has authority to postpone or defer the time allotted for public participation when circumstances require.

This policy supersedes and replaces any previous public participation policy.