A City Council Primer

1

About Stop Flock In Woodstock

Stop Flock in Woodstock is a bipartisan, community-led effort concerned about the privacy, security, civil-liberties, and data-sharing risks of Flock Safety and similar surveillance vendors.

We are NOT anti-police or anti-camera. We ARE asking Woodstock to use locally controlled, privacy-respecting technology instead of systems that collect, aggregate, or broadly share community surveillance data.

​

Melissa McMahon

• Counselor since 2023
• Head of the Woodstock Pride board

Gregg Hanson

• Counselor since 2025

Agenda

• Decorum
• How do city council meetings work?
• Q&A
• Sign making and public comment writing assistance

5

Decorum

• No speaking unless you’ve been given the podium
• No bad words
• Mayor runs the show at his discretion

6

6

How do city council meetings work?

Agenda Packets

• Available 3 days prior to the city council meeting on the proceeding Friday at 5:00PM
• Shows the agenda and details about each topic that will be voted on by council
• https://woodstockil.gov/agendacenter

8

Typical Meeting Agenda

1. Announcements
2. Roll call
3. Floor discussion
4. Consent agenda
5. Discussion
6. Future agenda items

​

9

Announcements and roll call

Mayor reads the rules of the meeting and lays out the agenda for the meeting

Jane takes a roll call of council

​

10

Floor discussion

1. Discussion of agenda topics (eg: TIF)
1. Someone presents (consultant does a presentation)
2. Questions from city council
3. Questions from public
2. Public comments on any topic that is not on the agenda
3. Council comments on any topic that is not on the agenda. They can respond to public comments, but they are not required to

11

Public comments

• No bad words, at the mayor’s discretion
• You have three minutes to speak, at the mayor’s discretion
• You can sometimes ask to take the podium again to respond to council comments or ask questions, but only at the mayor’s discretion

12

12

Public Comment �Tips

• If you’re a nervous public speaker, write your comments down and read them. You won’t be graded on making eye contact
• Practice once or twice for time
• Don’t talk directly into the microphone, off to one side or the other

13

13

You don’t have to stay!

• People with no interest in the topics on the agenda and don’t want to stick around usually leave here
• You can leave at any time

14

14

Consent calendar

Mayor Turner explains during the announcements that Woodstock operates on a “consent format”, which means that by default all items on the agenda up for a vote are voted on all at once, unless:

1. A councilperson wants to remove an item for individual consideration. If removed from the consent calendar, they can ask for clarification, make statements or vote in opposition to the majority.
2. A member of the public can also remove an item, if at least one councilperson agrees to it.

All of the items up for a vote are displayed on the screens in council chambers

The vote on the remaining chunk of agenda items happens first

​

15

Items for separate consideration

Discussed and voted on separately. If there are multiple items they’ll be discussed and voted on in order they came off the consent calendar.

16

Future agenda items

Up on the screen

17

Questions?

Thank you!

Upcoming events:

• October 6^th, 9a – 11a, Old Courthouse Center: “State of the City” demonstration
• October 6^th, 5p – 7p, Woodstock Square: Evening demonstration for people who work and walk to city hall for the city council meeting

Petition for referendum signing opportunities:

• October 3^rd, Art Fair at the Woodstock Square
• October 3^rd, 8a – 1p, Woodstock Farmer’s Market at MCC
• Look for these and future announcements at stopflockinwoodstock.org

​