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<br /> 1 four board members. Now, in no way do I want anybody from left field with these because these are very fundamental to the Board
<br /> 2 of Adjustment, but I do want to understand why we can't have more than five members if more than five members are present. And
<br /> 3 then,two,why is it four when you need, I understand you need a 3/4ths majority and that wouldn't come with five, but I do feel like if
<br /> 4 we have four and an alternate, an alternate doesn't actually count in which case the alternate should have a say because they are
<br /> 5 present. So,thank you.
<br /> 6
<br /> 7 James Bryan: There's a couple different layers of stuff going on here. One is the statutes, what the state tells us to do. So, no
<br /> 8 county can differ in that.Then what's sort of normal practice in every county. I would guess over 90 percent have got a five member
<br /> 9 board and probably over 95 percent of cities and towns have got five member boards. That's just the number that everybody has.
<br /> 10
<br /> 11 Beth Bronson: For the record is what we have.
<br /> 12
<br /> 13 James Bryan: Yes. What everybody has settled on. Locally,the Board of County Commissioners,through the LIDO and through
<br /> 14 their ordinances, can change that. Some jurisdictions, it's actually the elected board that also serves as the Board of Adjustment.
<br /> 15 Sometimes it's the Planning Board that also serves, and then sometimes they have it like us, a totally autonomous and different
<br /> 16 board. But whatever they set,that's what it is. So,this is a five member board. Now,you could have alternates,the idea of why you
<br /> 17 would have an alternate is basically just to keep things moving. I was in a jurisdiction where we had three months in a row,they didn't
<br /> 18 meet quota,and this was a company out of Texas that was flying in people from Texas three months in a row. Everybody was upset.
<br /> 19 Nobody was happy about this. I wasn't happy because I hate night meetings. Business is not happy. Time is money,three months
<br /> 20 in a row. Neighbors,they weren't happy. Nobody was happy. So that's why you pad it so it feels good. In our rules and procedures,
<br /> 21 is a clarification of what I think the law is. Before I got here, they took a different approach. Reasonable minds can disagree, 1
<br /> 22 suppose, but they had the alternate members not vote, but ask questions. I don't think that's legal. I think if you've got a five member
<br /> 23 board, the people who are participating have full participation. You can't say that you can vote, but you can't ask questions.
<br /> 24 Everybody who is in that participation gets full, and everybody who is not participating gets absolutely zero participation. And this
<br /> 25 gets down to a very granular of sitting up on the dais and giving the impression to people of what it is because that's where you're
<br /> 26 leaning on the quasi-judicial,the judicial part of it is that body language counts. The truth of the testimony. When you're questioning
<br /> 27 somebody and you're listening to their voice, do you trust what this person is saying? It's the same thing with all the other parties,
<br /> 28 looking up at the board. If there's five heads nodding or six heads nodding,that's different.This just makes it clear that whoever are
<br /> 29 the five,four or five that are participating and the alternates if they're not participating then we ask them to sit in the gallery or they can
<br /> 30 go home if they want.
<br /> 31
<br /> 32 Leon Meyers: But I think your question was if seven board of adjustment members are here, how can seven board of adjustment
<br /> 33 members can't vote? Is that right?
<br /> 34
<br /> 35 Beth Bronson: He answered that in the sense that it's a five member body. Right?
<br /> 36
<br /> 37 Patrick Mallett: I'll just sort of go through some of the history. We're fortunate in the fact that we've,within one seat we've teetered
<br /> 38 on a full board. There were years where we were struggling to keep four or four members, and if everybody didn't show up, game
<br /> 39 over,and that's frustrating because you have to tell people have to reset the clock and make plans and adjustments. You also have
<br /> 40 scenarios where just life happens. Somebody thought they were going to come,they couldn't,and there's somebody sitting thereon
<br /> 41 the bench that,you know, put me in coach, and then can sit down and readily participate. I don't know that I've heard of a board of
<br /> 42 adjustment that hadn't had alternates, but I think for good reason.
<br /> 43
<br /> 44 Beth Bronson: I think it's appropriate there's alternates.
<br /> 45
<br /> 46 Patrick Mallett: There is no set number for board members, but the items that you ticked off, L and Q,they're codified,so not only
<br /> 47 if there was a change, but we would also have to do a text amendment to the UDO.
<br /> 48
<br /> 49 Beth Bronson: L and D of Section 5.
<br /> 50
<br /> 51 Patrick Mallett: Yes
<br /> 52
<br /> 53 Beth Bronson: And that actually does bring me to my last question or proposal of discussion,so a quorum of the board necessary
<br /> 54 to conduct any business shall consist of at least four board members.The only thing that I would propose,or we could discuss is that
<br /> 55 if,for any reason, a present board of five moves down to four,we should still have to proceed because we have a quorum.
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