Agenda - 12-13-2016 - 6-b - BOCC Rules of Procedure Revision

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4 5 Preface These rules of procedure for use by a North Carolina board of county commissioners were first compiled in 1978 by Bonnie E. Davis, who at that time was a member of the Institute of Govern- ment faculty. The second edition was issued in 1990. This revised second edition takes into account 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 Law reduced the grounds for holding closed meetings and required that mo- tions to hold closed sessions be specific as to the reason. Rule 3 has been revised to bring it into compliance with the new law. A 1993 amendment to G.S. 153-26 requires that the organizational meeting following the general election in even-numbered years must be held on the first Monday in December. This statutory change brought clarity to the confusion that previously existed as to what business could be transacted by the old board at the first meeting in December following an election. The old board should conclude all of its business before the December organizational meeting, even if the board normally holds a regular meeting on the first Monday of each month. Acknowledgements These rules of procedure are based on the following publications of the Institute of Government at the University of North Caro- lina, Chapel Hill: Rules of Procedure for the Board of County Commissioners, Sec- ond Edition, Revised. Joseph S. Ferrell, Institute of Government, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1994. Suggested Rules of Procedure for Small Local Government Boards, Second Edition. A Fleming Bell, II, Institute of Government, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998. The text of these publications was utilized and modified as ap- propriate to reflect the specific needs of the Board of Commis- sioners of Orange County.