Agenda 02-17-2026; 8-a - Minutes for January 16, 2026 Retreat and January 20, 2026 Business Meeting

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30 1 At 11:32 a.m., a motion was made by Commissioner McKee, seconded by Vice-Chair 2 Fowler, to recess until 11:37 a.m. 3 4 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 5 6 A motion was made by Commissioner Bedford, seconded by Vice-Chair Fowler, to 7 reconvene the meeting at 11:37 a.m. 8 9 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 10 11 5. Board Functioning 12 a. Petition Process 13 Public Petitions 14 15 Chair Hamilton introduced the item and referred to the BOCC Rules of Procedures on 16 page 14. She read the following statement from the Rules of Procedure: 17 "Petitions/Resolutions/Proclamations and other similar requests submitted by the public will not 18 be acted upon by the Board of Commissioners at the time presented. All such requests will be 19 referred for Chair/Vice-Chair/Manager review and for recommendations to the full board at a later 20 date regarding a) consideration of the request at a future business meeting; or b) receipt of the 21 request as information only. Submittal of information to the board or receipt of information by the 22 board does not constitute approval, endorsement, or consent." 23 Vice-Chair Fowler asked if anyone responds to the public petitioner with information on 24 any actions or follow-up. 25 Chair Hamilton said it's not clear. She said the definition of a "petition" is not clear. 26 Vice-Chair Fowler said if a member of the public is asking for specific actions or 27 discussions that would be a clear petition. 28 Commissioner Bedford said for resolutions or proclamations they do get back to the 29 petitioner. 30 Commissioner Portie-Ascott gave an example of a member of the public who invited the 31 Board to visit her neighborhood. She asked if that is a petition. 32 Commissioner McKee said that was a request of individual board members. He said he 33 didn't know how one would determine if someone speaking was a comment or request or a 34 petition. He said he is leery of trying to interpret any implied request as a petition as it would take 35 up an enormous amount of staff time. He said sometimes people are just speaking their minds 36 or venting. 37 Commissioner Greene said she doesn't think it's very complicated. She said the language 38 comes from the First Amendment, which states, everyone has the right to petition the government 39 for a redress of grievances, and she takes that very broadly. She thinks that's why historically 40 government boards have used that word because it's a fundamental right. She said perhaps the 41 Chair could say, "I'm going to take that as a petition and ask staff for follow-up." She asked if this 42 has been a problem for staff. 43 Commissioner Bedford said the reason it's being discussed is due to Board petitions. 44 Chair Hamilton said public petitions don't automatically mean for the staff to do anything. 45 She said they come to the Chair and Vice-Chair to determine what happens with it. She said she 46 wanted to consider staff time and the other things they are working on. She said it is appropriate 47 for the Chair, Vice-Chair, and County Manager to review for follow-up. She said if something is 48 critical, then it should be assigned for staff to follow-up on and then come back to the Board as 49 either as an information item or as an agenda item. She said Commissioner Greene was correct 50 that they want to give the public the opportunity to address the governing body. She said Vice- 51 Chair Fowler's question about following up is a good point to consider.