Agenda - 03-13-2012 - 5m - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 These rules apply to all meetings of the Orange County Board of Commissioners at which the Board is empowered to exercise any of the executive, administrative or legislative powers conferred on it by law. The North Carolina law (G.S. 153A-41) permits a board of county commissioners to adopt its own rules of procedure if these conform to "generally accepted principles of parliamentary procedure" and do not conflict with applicable law. Mason's Manual suggests that parliamentary law affecting the work of a board of county commissioners can be summarized in ten basic principles: 1, The board can ta,ke only those actions thaat it has authority or jurisdiction to take. A oorollary of this principle is that the board's action, to be valid, must not violate any applicable law or oonstitutional provision. This is simply another manifestation of the familiar legal doctrine that a unit of local government has only those powers conferred on it by law or neoessarily implied from some speafic grant of power. 2. The boc~d must meet in order to act. Under North Carolina law, the powers oonferred on the county governing board are exercised by the county board of oommi~.Gioners as a group, not its individual members. Therefore, the group must meet in order to act. 3 All board members must receive proper notice of ineetings. Since all members are equally entitled to p~icipate in board meetings, each member must be properly notified of the plaoe, time, and purpose of ineetings. 4. The boar'd may act only with a quorum. 5. There must be a question before the board on which it can decide. Except when electing their own officers or ballotsng for appointments, legislative bodies pxnoeed by voting yes or no on specafic proposals put forward by one or more members. Each member has a xight to l~ow at all times what question is before the board and what effect a yes or no vote would have on that question, 6. There must be opportunity for debate. The very nature of a deliberative body requires that members share information and opinion about matters before the board 7. QccPStions must be decided by uote. Legislative bodies do not decide matters by discussing them until a consensus emerges. 8. Votes are d'ecided by maJority. Usually only a si.mple majority of votes cast suffioes, but the board's rules or an applicable ]aw may sometimes require an extraordinary majority. 9. There must be no fraud, trzck,erY, or d.ec~eption in the board's pra~edings. 10. The boar-d's rziles of procedure must be applied cnnsistently. Most of the following rules have been modified to suit local needs and customs. The comments following the rules note when rules state procedures required by law (North Carolina General Statutes, hereinafter cited as G.S.). I. Applicability Rule 1. Applicability of Rules. These rules apply to all meetings of the Board of Commissioners of Orange County at which the board is empowered to exercise any of the executive, quasi-judicial, administrative, or legislative powers conferred on it by law. Comment: On the whole, rules of procedure of a governing board are intended to govern formal meetings of the board where it will exercise any of its executive and legislative powers. These rules fulfill that purpose and also are designed to ensure board compliance with the Open