Subject:
Title
Amendment to BCC-97, Board Meeting Rules and Procedures, to Revise the Meeting Order of Business to Add a Public Comment Section Following the Consent Agenda
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Fiscal Impact:
None.
Dept/Office:
District 2
Requested Action:
Recommendation
It is requested that the Board approve amendments to Board policy BCC-97, Board Meeting Rules and Procedures, to provide for an initial thirty-minute public comment period immediately following the consent agenda and a second public comment period to be held at the conclusion of business specified on the regular Commission agenda, and to eliminate the public comment period following Board reports.
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Summary Explanation and Background:
The District 2 Commissioner proposes amendments to BCC-97, Board Meeting Rules and Procedures, as indicated on page 9 of the attachment in underline/strikethrough format. The proposed amendments are intended to prioritize public comments so that citizens may be heard by the Board even if they are unable to attend the entire Board meeting.
The proposed amendments modify the order of business on Board meeting agendas to provide a thirty-minute public comment period immediately following the consent agenda. A second public comment period is provided at the conclusion of business specified on the regular Commission agenda. This second period is primarily for “overflow” if not all public comments can be heard within the first thirty-minute period. Speakers would not be allowed to speak under both the first and second public comment sections.
If approved, the proposed amendments will reinstate the way public comment was received by the Board from December 16, 2014, until March 21, 2023, when the Board removed the thirty-minute time limit from the public comment section following the consent agenda and eliminated the second public comment section at the end of regular business. Then on May 9, 2023, the Board again amended BCC-97 to move the sole remaining public comment section from immediately after the consent agenda to the end of the meeting following Board reports, ushering in the “Vice Vice Chair” era.
Clerk to the Board Instructions:
Please forward signed original to the County Manager’s Office.