Subject:
Title
Improving Agenda Transparency Through Financial Disclosure
End
Fiscal Impact:
N/A
Dept/Office:
District 1
Requested Action:
Recommendation
It is requested that the Board of Commissioners approve disclosure revisions to the handling of the Consent and Business Agenda at Board of County Commission Meetings and direct staff to revise policy BCC-97.
End
Summary Explanation and Background:
On March 17 an item was presented to request revisions to the handline of the business and consent agenda. While there was board discussion, the subsequent motions failed in 3-2 split votes. Commissioner Feltner proposed discussing the item in conjunction with the Citizens Effectiveness and Efficiency (CEER) meeting currently anticipated on May 5, 2026. There was no CEER specific to this request submitted in this year’s cycle. At the April 7, 2026 meeting, Commissioner Feltner offered to personally read the consent agenda into the public record.
Since the March 17 meeting the board has received additional feedback from residents demanding that the county provide financial disclosure on its published agenda and read the consent agenda items aloud into the record. The item is being brought back for the board’s reconsideration.
To increase transparency and public awareness, the proposed change would modify how items are presented on the Board of County Commissioners agenda.
Currently, consent agenda items are voted on collectively without each item being read aloud into the record. Printed and posted agenda title descriptions generally do not include the associated dollar amounts. Attendees that attend the meeting and reference the printed agenda only do not see the dollar amounts that the county is allocating. While dollar amounts are referenced in the details of the online agenda, accessing this information requires additional clicks for residents to review.
This proposal would make the following procedural improvements:
Consent Agenda
• Each consent agenda item would be read aloud by the County Manager prior to the Consent Agenda vote, including the associated dollar amount (as applicable).
• The dollar amount associated with each item would be included in the printed agenda item description and referenced in the online title description.
Business Agenda
• The dollar amount associated with each item would be included in the printed agenda item description and referenced in the online title description.
These changes would provide residents with clear easy-to-access information about county expenditures before votes occur and would improve public understanding of the Board’s actions.
Similar practices are currently used by the City of Titusville and the City of Cocoa Beach, where agenda items include financial information and are read aloud prior to board consideration and voting. The City of Cocoa includes financial information on their city agendas.
Volusia County provides the spending dollars on their published agenda for each item, a link to their county’s strategic goals for the agenda item (as applicable), and multiple contact phone numbers of county staff associated with the agenda item.
Link to Volusia County Strategic Goals: https://www.volusia.org/government/county-council/county-council-goals/
Examples of Titusville, City of Cocoa, Cocoa Beach and Volusia County agendas are attached.
Implementing the proposed changes would support the County’s stated values to citizens of Honesty, Openness, and Accountability.
County Missions and Values:
<https://www.brevardfl.gov/CountyCommission/CountyMission>
Substack article on March 27 Meeting;
https://commissionerkatiedelaney.substack.com/p/where-are-the-dollar-amounts
Clerk to the Board Instructions: