POLICY ON ATTENDING MEETINGS VIA ELECTRONIC MEANS
Whereas, the Kaskaskia Regional Port District believes it is in the best interest of its Members that the fullest participation and attendance at
all meetings be achieved whenever possible; and
Whereas, the use of electronic conferencing for meeting attendance and voting requirements is permissible so long as the meeting is
conducted in accordance with the Open Meetings Act; and
Whereas the Open Meetings Act allows attendance at public body meetings through audio-conference, video-conference, or by any other
electronic conferencing without physical attendance when prevented by:
a. Personal illness or disability
b. Employment purposes or the business of the public body, and
c. A family or other emergency.
Whereas, the Open Meetings Act permits members to attend meetings by other means than physical presence so long as they adopt specific
procedural rules; and
Whereas, the Kaskaskia Regional Port District in all of its regular, special, and committee meetings intends to comply with the provisions of
the provisions of the Open Meetings Act.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Kaskaskia Regional Port District having considered the aforesaid matters, hereby adopts
this policy to be used, when needed, to make use of the capabilities for conferencing by electronic means or any other type of conferencing for its
regular meetings or any of its committee meetings as more specifically set forth in this Resolution, and to adopt, establish, and set forth these Rules
of the Kaskaskia Regional Port District applicable thereto:
1. All pertinent provisions of the Open Meetings Act must be complied with, including specifically the proper notice of any regular or
special meeting, the proper record keeping or minutes of each meeting, the appropriate agenda preparation for each meeting, which in
addition shall be posted along with the notice of the meeting; and, in particular, any use of closed sessions shall be in compliance with
the provisions of the Act.
2. That sufficient security and identification procedures be employed, either at the outset of any meeting or at any time during the meeting
as appropriate, to ensure that any and all members attending for discussion or voting purposes are in fact authorized members with the
right to speak and vote.
3. Pursuant to the Open Meeting Act, the requirement in 5 ILCS 120/7(a) that a quorum of members of the Board MUST be physically
present at the location of the meeting shall apply.
4. All Kaskaskia Regional Port District board members or committee members attending meetings by electronic conferencing shall be
entitled to vote as if they were personally and physically present at the meeting site so long as a quorum is physically present and
counted for, but their votes shall be recorded by the Secretary as done by electronic attendance.
5. A board member or committee member who attends a meeting by video or audio conference must provide notice to the recording
secretary at least 24 hours prior to the meeting unless advanced notice is impracticable.
6. A member may attend a meeting or committee meeting through electronic conferencing, if his or her physical presence at the meeting is
prevented by:
a. personal illness or disability
b. employment purposes or the business of the public body
c. or a family or other emergency
Board Members requesting participation by electronic means shall cite one of the three permitted reasons upon roll call and the reason
shall be recorded in the minutes.
7. The meeting minutes shall include, but need not be limited to: a) the date, time and place of the meeting; b) the members who were
either present or absent from the meeting and whether those members in attendance were physically present or present by audio
conference, video conference or by other electronic means; c) a summary of discussion of all matters proposed, deliberated, or decided;
and d) a record of any votes taken.
8. The location of the meeting included on the notice shall be equipped with a suitable transmission system (e.g. a speakerphone) in order
that the public audience, the members in attendance, and any staff in attendance will be able to hear any input, vote or discussion of the
conference, and that the member attending by electronic means shall have a similar capability of hearing and participating in such input,
vote or discussion.
9. As the District begins each new matter of business, the chair will check with all remote locations with District member(s) present to
ensure that each such connection is active and not muted.
10. When a motion is made and seconded, and discussion regarding the motion begins, the chair will check that the connection with remote
locations with District member(s) is active and not muted. Prior to closing discussion and taking any vote, the chair will ask all remote
locations with District member(s) present whether there are any additional comments, questions, or information to be added to the
discussion.
11. The rules set out above shall also apply to each committee and each sub-committee meeting.
12. This policy applies only to Port District Board Members and not to the general public.
This policy was approved by the Members of the Board of the Kaskaskia Regional Port District at its January 14, 2013 Board Meeting.