Sleepy Hollow Village Attorney Addresses Legality of Call-in Budget Vote

Some on Patch have outcried in the comments what they see as an illegal call-in vote to decide the village's 2013-2014 final budget. Trustee Bruce Campbell broke the impasse the trustees were in when he, in absentia, chose among different budget scenarios over the phone. 

In response, I asked Village Attorney Janet Gandolfo to weigh in. She had this to say in the Board's defense:

The vote [on April 30, 2013] was held at a duly noticed meeting of the Board of Trustees. Present were Mayor Ken Wray, Trustees Karin Wompa, Evelyn Stupel, Jennifer Lobato-Church, Glen Rosenbloom and Susan MacFarlane.  An emergency prevented Trustee Campbell from attending in person. 

...A village budget must be adopted on or before April 30th of each year.  In the event a budget is not adopted by the full Board, the tentative budget filed with the Clerk on March 20th is automatically adopted as the annual budget. That budget, as presented for review, would have meant a tax increase over 8%. Although the Board worked diligently during the month of April to come to an agreement on the budget, there were a few issues which remained outstanding when the Board convened on April 30th.  It became apparent during the meeting that there was not a majority of the board for passage of any one version of the budget.  Therefore, we reviewed meeting procedures to ascertain whether Trustee Campbell could vote via telephone.   

State law provides only limited guidance with respect to rules of procedures of public bodies.  State law requires, in essence,  that all public business must be open to the general public, be properly noticed and a quorum of the legislative body be present to conduct public business. There are few rules beyond that.  Generally each municipality adopts its rules of procedure at the annual meeting.  Sleepy Hollow had not addressed the particular issue of voting via telephone.   Prior to the vote on the budget, the Board members present at the meeting passed a resolution to permit voting by a member over speaker phone or other electronic device.  

It is important to emphasize that the entire discussion of the Board at the April 30th was conducted openly so that the public could hear the entire debate between the Board and Trustee Campbell. The public was also invited to make comments.  Trustee Campbell could hear all comments made by the public. After a somewhat lengthy, public discussion the vote was taken.      
The Sleepy Hollow Board of Trustees makes every effort to comport to requirements that actions and business of the Village be transparent, inclusive of the public and open to debate. The vote taken on April 30th was all of the above.     

_Janet Gandolfo, Village Counsel