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February 2002 <br />APPROVED <br />Orange County Board of Commissioners <br /> <br />Guidelines for Commissioner Requests <br />For Information from County Staff <br /> <br /> <br />Purpose: To establish guidelines for Commissioners and staff for addressing individual <br />Commissioner’s requests for information, reports, memoranda, or similar information from <br />County staff. The Board of Commissioners’ interests in establishing these guidelines are <br />as follows: <br /> <br />• To clarify for Commissioners and staff when requests should be addressed to the <br />Manager or department head or when the request may require the full Board’s <br />consideration. <br /> <br />• On behalf of the full Board, to assure there is an opportunity to consider as a Board, <br />Commissioner requests that will involve significant staff time and impact existing goals <br />and priorities. <br /> <br />• While acknowledging the Manager and staff’s willingness to respond to Commissioners <br />requests, to assure that there is opportunity in the process for appropriate <br />consideration - by the Manager or, as necessary, by the Board - of priorities and any <br />need for re-prioritization. <br /> <br />Note: In the instance of Commissioners’ requests to the Clerk to the Board, the Board has <br />in place protocols for working with the Clerk. This procedure does not apply to requests to <br />the Clerk to the Board except as such requests involve the Clerk obtaining information <br />from County departments. In such case the Clerk addresses the request to the Manager. <br /> <br />Guidelines <br /> <br />A. Requests Outside of Board of Commissioners’ Meetings <br /> <br />1. Copies of Existing Information <br /> <br />If a County Commissioner wants copies of existing information, reports, agenda <br />abstract or similar information, the Commissioner may request the information from <br />the Manager or directly from the department head involved. The Manager or <br />department head involved responds directly to the request as soon as possible. In <br />this instance, it is not necessary to provide the information to any Commissioner <br />other than the requesting Commissioner. <br /> <br />2. Additional Information Requiring Limited Staff Work (Less than Two Hours) <br /> <br />When a County Commissioner requests additional information that may require <br />limited additional work such as two hours or less, the Commissioner may direct the <br />request to the department head or the Manager. The Manager or department head <br />3