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5 6 <br /> Rules of Procedure for the <br /> Board of County Commissioners <br /> Introduction <br /> These rules of procedure were designed for use by a North <br /> Carolina board of county commissioners. Essentially, the rules <br /> are a modified version of Robert's Rules of Order, Revised. Robert's <br /> Rules is intended to guide the deliberations of a large legislative <br /> body; consequently, it is not always appropriate for a small <br /> governing board, which can afford to proceed with much less <br /> formality. Another valuable resource consulted for this revision <br /> of the rules was Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure.Mason's <br /> Manual is intended primarily for state legislatures, but its <br /> extensive discussion of the basic principles of parliamentary law <br /> and procedure is valuable for local governing boards as well. <br /> These rules apply to all meetings of the Orange County Board of <br /> Commissioners at which the board is empowered to exercise any <br /> of the executive, administrative or legislative powers conferred <br /> on it by law. <br /> The North Carolina law (G.S. 153A-41) permits a board of county <br /> commissioners to adopt its own rules of procedure if these conform <br /> to "generally accepted principles of parliamentary procedure"and <br /> do not conflict with applicable law. Mason's Manual suggests that <br /> parliamentary law affecting the work of a board of county <br /> commissioners can be summarized in ten basic principles: <br /> 1. The board can take only those actions that it has authority or <br /> jurisdiction to take. A corollary of this principle is that the <br /> board's action, to be valid, must not violate any applicable <br /> law or constitutional provision. This is simply another <br /> manifestation of the familiar legal doctrine that a unit of <br /> local government has only those powers conferred on it by <br /> law or necessarily implied from some specific grant of power. <br /> 2. The board must meet in order to act.Under North Carolina law, <br /> the powers conferred on the county governing board are <br /> exercised by the county board of commissioners as a group, <br /> not its individual members. Therefore, the group must meet <br /> in order to act. <br /> 3. All board members must receive proper notice of meetings. Since <br /> all members are equally entitled to participate in board <br />