Title
Revised Commission Policy 1-3, Public Meetings
Body
RECOMMENDED ACTION (Motion):
Staff recommends the City Commission approve the revisions made to Commission Policy 1-3, Public Meetings.
BACKGROUND:
Commission Policy 1-3, Public Meetings, was adopted March 5, 1997. Revisions to this policy were presented and discussed at the November 7, 2017 Work Session of the City Commission. Commission questions were addressed and Commission input has been incorporated in the revised policy.
The changes to the policy include:
1. Limiting all City boards, commissions, and committees to adjourn their meetings no later than 10:00 p.m. or extend to no later than 11:00 p.m. with unanimous consent of the members present at the meeting.
2. All City boards, commissions, and committees to provide a minimum of action minutes. This is a change from always providing summary minutes to allowing action minutes.
As you may recall, the City Commission updated their Rules of Procedure in 2015 to include the adjournment time of meetings. In support of change number one listed above, it is being proposed that all city boards, commissions, and committees impose this same time limit. There are several times over the last year that the Planning Commission, Historic Review Board, and other meetings have been later than 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. As a City that would like to encourage more citizen participation, as City Commission Goal #4 states, it is hard to expect working volunteers to attend meetings that go extremely late and still get up and go to work in the morning.
In regards to change number two listed above, the City has fallen behind and is constantly struggling to keep up with various boards and committees meeting minutes. Moving to action minutes would reduce staff time, save money, and resources, while allowing staff to catch-up and stay up on the various minutes. There has been suggestions from a citizen to keep up on all the City's boards, committees, and commission mi...
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