Minutes 01-29-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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agenda. There is a petitioning of the board at the beginning of Board meetings. In order to put items on the agenda, they must be reviewed at agenda review and will then put on a suitable agenda or clear reason will be given if they are not added. He said that an item not added is not considered "dead" and can be brought back at a later date. This system was developed to give order to the way in which matters are put on the agenda and to prevent items from appearing on the agenda without proper vetting about what is involved. He said this process has been used a little, but not much since the new members were seated. He referenced one petition by Commissioner Pelissier to have the Chair write a letter to all the advisory board members who have finished terms. Chair Jacobs said they currently receive a letter from the clerk and it will now have the Chair's signature on it. That is an example of a petition that will be answered. Commissioner Rich asked about time frames for responding to petitions and Chair Jacobs said there are two answers; one is ASAP and the other is the staff has to respond, which may take awhile for staff to get things together sufficiently to bring it back to the agenda. In either case, an answer will be given promptly. This response will tell you that if it is going to be on an agenda or not, and if not on the agenda at the next meeting, a time frame will be given. Frank Clifton said that if a petition requires research or legal research, there will be a listing of what staff members are pursuing it or have been assigned. A sheet will be given that give a status update and where the issue is projected to be on the agenda. This is especially true when several advisory boards are involved. Some type of response about action taken is usually given within a week of the petition. Chair Jacobs addressed the question of, do we care if our advisory boards make presentations to other elected boards and John Roberts asked for a moment to look into this. Chair Jacobs addressed the question of how letters are written. He said, if you use personal stationary, you may do what you want. If county stationary is used, make it clear that it is from you and not the board, unless you are the Chair speaking on behalf of the board. John Roberts, addressing the prior question, said the general advisory board policy section 11, page 14, subsection C3 states: — Advisory Boards and any members thereof shall not (and shall not have the express or implied authority to): 1. Take positions, in their capacity as an advisory board member, on any political issue or support or oppose any candidate for public office Chair Jacobs noted that this should be part of new member orientation. Commissioner Dorosin said that it should be made clear during orientation that they are not trying to constrain free speech. He said it should be clear that there is an absolute right to speak and identify yourself and your community activities and board memberships, but there should be a disclaimer that you are not speaking on behalf of a particular advisory board. Frank Clifton said for the newer board members that there are a couple of statutory boards that this does not apply to, i.e. Board of Health, Social Services, who have official capacity versus advisory capacity. Commissioner Rich said that often people will tell where they are from but will then designate they are speaking for themselves. She said that it is key that people be allowed to express their opinion as a citizen, not an advisory board member. Commissioner Dorosin specified that the citizen should be allowed to disclose their involvements, as it may reveal why they are knowledgeable about the issue. Commissioner McKee said the issue is not that they don't speak, but that it be specified they speak as an individual. He said he has no problem with anyone saying anything to any advisory board, provided it is not disparaging an individual or board, as long as they are speaking for themselves. He noted that to mention a planning board membership as a background statement is different than claiming to speak as a planning board member.