The Village of Montgomery’s February 4 board meeting featured two substantial updates: the confirmation of Police Chief William Herlihy’s resignation date, along with his successor’s appointment and the adoption of a new ruleset meant to maintain decorum, or good conduct, during meetings.

The board opened the meeting by approving the resignations of former Sergeant Roy Werner, effective February 1, and Chief Herlihy effective on February 22. To fill in the latter’s position, Officer Joe Guarneiri will take over as the village’s full-time police chief starting on February 22.

Mayor Mike Hembury added that the village and its police department want to establish a police cadet program sometime in the future, giving aspiring officers an opportunity to serve the village and gain experience in law enforcement.

“We’d like to start a police cadet program in this village. I was a police cadet growing up, and it’s a really great thing. It looks good on a resume for anybody who’s going into law enforcement,” Hembury said. “If you want to go into law enforcement, and you’re in college, the police cadet program is very good. Future Chief Joe here is definitely interested, and I’m all for it, so that’s something we’re looking forward to in the future.”

Later in the meeting, the board considered adopting a set of decorum rules to follow during meetings. Trustee Randy Wilbur, who led the discussion, stated that these rules would help maintain proper etiquette among board members and attendees, ensuring smooth and healthy discussions for all parties involved.

“The objective is to establish basic behavioral rules and ensure order and respect, enabling the village government to conduct public business in an open, safe, and transparent fashion,” Wilbur said. “The citizens of this village may be fully aware and observe the performance of public officials and the deliberations and decisions that contribute to the making of public policy, and that the government process continues to operate for the benefit of those who created it.”

Wilbur then listed the six rules he assembled, all of which heavily based on the ones from the New York Conference of Mayors and NYS Public Officers Law. These included:
1. The mayor or presiding officer shall convene the village board promptly at the hour for the convening of the village board, and shall preserve order and decorum.

2. The mayor shall recognize council members for the purpose of debate on any question under consideration, in the order members have requested recognition.

3. Scheduled speakers from the audience shall address the village board as a whole, in an orderly manner, and shall not address the audience without authorization from the mayor. Speakers must adhere to the established time limit, and may not transfer their allotted speaking time to other persons.

4. All speakers, including the mayor and village Board members, shall refrain from partisan political commentary, personal, impertinent, slanderous or profane remarks directed at any member of the board, staff, or general public that disrupt the meeting. Any person who makes remarks or otherwise disrupts the meeting with loud outbursts, shouting, threats or other disruptive conduct shall, at the direction of the Mayor or after a motion and majority consensus of the board, be ruled out of order, which is to serve as a warning. After receiving a warning, any person who persists in disrupting the meeting, the Mayor or the village board Majority may request that person to leave and may utilize law enforcement to enforce such, if necessary.

5. The village attorney shall act as the parliamentarian to assist with procedural questions, upon the request of any member of the village board.

6. Improper commentary, debates, and arguments initiated by village board members during public meetings or during requests to address the board are prohibited. Village board members who expand their comments during the public comment portion beyond the simple statement of questions, comments and/or relevant opinions, may be ruled out of order by the mayor or after a motion and majority consensus of the board.

Trustee Randi Picarello raised a few concerns for this ruleset, specifically toward rules three and four. She asserted that residents should be allowed to transfer their allotted time to other residents during public comment, especially if one speaker has a brief comment while another has much more to say. She also requested that rule four be written more objectively, including detailed parameters on what counts as disruptive behavior. She felt that rule four was too subjectively and could be potentially misused, such as punishing speakers who talk loudly when addressing the board.

“I would like to take some of the language out, to be honest with you. I just feel like a lot of these statements are all very subjective,” Picarello said. “Rule four prohibits outbursts and shouting. What’s the volume? What’s the threat? What if someone’s animated, or they talk loud?”

Wilbur and Trustee Kevin Conero asserted that adding too many parameters could end up making the rules too restrictive for speakers. Village Attorney Will Frank also clarified that rule four would only punish speakers who actively disrupt meetings or display poor conduct, and not punish those to project themselves in an orderly manner.

“There’s a difference between being loud when one is addressing the board versus loud outbursts. Nobody likes or wants loud outbursts during meetings,” Frank said.

At the end of the discussion, the board adopted the rules with a few small amendments, including the addition of “threats to public safety” in rule four’s definition of disruption. Following this meeting, Frank will finalize these rules to include added verbiage and truncated language. Once completed, the board will post these rules on the village website and write them on a sign for the meeting room.