Ben Avon Council Public Participation Policy
Ben Avon Borough Council encourages borough residents to attend its public meetings – as advertised in The Citizen, 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.
Ben Avon Council Minutes
Ben Avon Council minutes will be posted upon approval after the following Council meeting. For a schedule of Council’s working session meetings and voting meetings, please go to the calendar. Working Session meetings are held the first Tuesday of every month beginning at 7pm unless otherwise noted. Voting meetings are held the third Tuesday of every month beginning at 7pm, unless otherwise noted.
There will typically be a 1 to 2 month delay in the postings due to the approval wait time. If you have any questions, please contact the Borough office. All Council minutes posted on our Meetings page are official and approved unless noted.