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2 Rules of Procedure for the Board of County Commissioners Preface These xules of procedure for use by a North Carolina board of oounty comm;~.Gioners were first compiled in 1978 by Bonnie E. Davis, who at that time was a member of the Institute of Government faculty. The second edition was issued in 1990. This revised sec~nd edition takes into acxount several changes in the Open Meetings Law and other statutes that have been made since 1990. The 1994 and 1999 changes to the Open Meetings I,aw reduced the grounds for holding closed meetings and required that motions to hold closed sessions be specific as to the reason. Rule 3 has been revised to bring it into oompliance with the new law. A 1993 amendment to G.S. 153-26 requires that the oxganizational meeting following the general election in even-numbered years must be held on the first Monday in Deoember. This statutory change brought clarity to the confusion that previously e~sted as to what business could be transacted by the old. board at the fixst meeting in Deoember following an election. The old board should oonclude all of its business before the Deoember organizational meeting, even if the board normally holds a regular meeting on the first Monday of each month. Acknowledgements These rules of prooedure are based on the following publications of the Institute of Government at the Univexsity of North Carolina, Chapel Hi1L• Rules of Pnocedure for the Board of County Commissioners, Seoond Edition, Revised Joseph S. Ferrell, Institute of Government, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1994. Suggested Rules of Procedure for Small Looal Gouernm.ent Boards, Seoond Edition. A Fleming Be]l, II, Institute of Government, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998. The text of these publications was utilized and modified as appropriate to reflect the speafic needs of the Board of CoxrLni~._~sioners of Orange County. . Rules of Procedure for the Board of County Commissioners Introduction These rules of procedure were designed for use by a North Carolina board of county commissioners. Essentially, the rules are a modified version of Robert's Rules of Order, Reuised. Robert's Rules is intended to guide the deliberations of a large legislative body; consequently, it is not always appropriate for a small governing board, which can afford to proceed with much less formality. Another valuable resource consulted for this revision of the rules was Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure. Mason's Manual is intended primarily for state legislatures, but its extensive discussion of the basic principles of parliamentary law and procedure is valuable for local governing boards as well.