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Manteno board adopts remote-attendance ordinance after debate over limits
Summary
After debate about acceptable reasons and possible limits, the Village of Manteno approved Ordinance 26-02 to permit remote attendance under conditions taken from state statute, including notice rules and the ability to remove disruptive remote participants.
The Village of Manteno on May 18 adopted Ordinance 26-02 to allow trustees to attend meetings remotely under conditions modeled on state statute, after a lengthy discussion about permissible reasons, quorum requirements and safeguards for disruptive participants. The ordinance passed following questions about whether remote attendance should be limited to emergencies or allowed for business travel, illness and family reasons.
Trustees debated whether the policy should explicitly restrict remote participation to emergencies only or allow broader circumstances such as business travel or planned absences. One trustee noted the ordinance language mirrors the state statute and that the board could later adopt more restrictive local limits if desired. The ordinance includes a provision allowing the clerk or chair to remove a remote participant who is disruptive (for example, if third parties interfere or the participant is not paying attention).
Procedural context: trustees discussed how many remote meetings a single trustee should be permitted to attend and whether documentation (without violating privacy) should substantiate remote-attendance reasons. The board confirmed that a quorum must be physically present to conduct business and that remote participants would still be counted as attending for compensation purposes when legitimately participating.
The ordinance passed after a recorded voice vote with one trustee recording an abstention; the board signaled the ordinance can be amended in the future if operational problems arise. The village said IT and AV systems will be configured to support remote participation.
