(1) Voting Requirement. Every member who is present at a board meeting, including the Chair, shall cast a vote when the question is put before the Chair; when a vote is equally divided, the question is lost. This section shall not be construed to prohibit a supervisor from abstaining from voting for any reason. (3/16/93)

(2) If a member has a direct personal interest in the question placed before the board, he or she shall request to be excused from the voting thereon which request shall be granted by the chair.

(3) No member shall be permitted to vote on any question unless he or she is present or unless he or she appears, upon division of the Board, prior to the tally. A member wishing to absent him or herself from any meeting while the meeting is in session shall first obtain consent from the chair who shall so notify the board.

(4) The ayes and nays shall be taken and recorded in the minutes if requested by a member before the decision is announced by the chair.

(5) Unless otherwise specifically provided by statute, no secret ballot may be authorized to determine any election or decision of the board except the election of officers of such board in any meeting; except as so provided in the case of officers, any member of the board may require that a vote be taken at any meeting in such manner that the vote of each member is ascertained and recorded.

(6) The records of the reporter after approval by a majority of the members of the governmental body and certification of such approval by the prescribed officer, shall be filed in the office of the clerk and in the case of committees with the chairman of the committee or his designee. Records of closed meetings shall be impounded until the body by majority vote authorizes its release and the inclusion in the regular public records file.

(7) The motion and roll call votes of each meeting including closed sessions of the board and its committees shall be recorded and preserved and open to public inspection to the extent prescribed in sec. 19.21 of the Wisconsin Statutes and s. 2.13(7) of these rules.

(8) Unless otherwise specified, the majority vote shall consist of a simple majority of the votes cast and unless otherwise specified, a two-third vote shall consist of two-thirds of the members of the county board; that is, not less than sixteen votes of the 23 member Board. (11/15/88)

(9) Any member of the board or the chair may move for consideration of a report, resolution or ordinance by paragraph or seriatim. Upon the adoption of said motion by majority vote, the chair shall read the first subdivision or paragraph of the report, resolution or ordinance, after which reading the proponent shall explain said paragraph or subdivision, after which the chair shall inquire as to debate or amendment to that particular paragraph or subdivision. When there is no further debate or amendment to the first paragraph, each succeeding paragraph or subdivision shall be taken up in similar fashion. Amendments to each paragraph shall be voted on as they arise, but no paragraph as amended shall be acted upon (as to final adoption or review) at that time. After all parts have been considered, the chair shall open the entire document to further amendment. All such amendments shall be corrected and inserted in the record by the reporter, and after final debate and amendment, the entire report, resolution or ordinance shall be acted upon in a single vote.