Okaloosa County BOCC — March 7, 2017 — Amended Procedure for Meetings of BOCC — reading text

1 RESOLUTION NO. 2017- 2 3 A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY 4 COMMISSIONERS OF OKALOOSA COUNTY, FLORIDA, 5 AMENDING RESOLUTION 14-76 RELATING TO 6 PROCEDURES FOR MEETINGS OF THE OKALOOSA 7 COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS; 8 ESTABLISHING A PROCEDURE FOR CONSIDERING 9 MATTERS AT BOARD MEETINGS THAT WERE NOT 10 INCLUDED ON THE AGENDA; PROVIDING FOR AN 11 EFFECTIVE DATE. 12 13 WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners previously adopted Resolution 14-76 14 which established the Rules of Procedure to provide for the smooth and orderly function of the 15 business of the Board and to provide a basis for resolving questions of procedure when they 16 arise; and 17 18 WHEREAS, those Rules of Procedure provided they should be periodically reviewed 19 and amended as deemed necessary; and 20 21 WHEREAS, on occasion, the Board is required to consider matters that have not been 22 included on the published agenda for its meeting; and 23 24 WHEREAS, it would be appropriate for the Board to establish a uniform process for the 25 inclusion of items for the Board’s consideration at a meeting that was not included on the 26 published agenda for that meeting. 27 28 NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of County Commissioners of 29 Okaloosa County, Florida, as follows: 30 31 SECTION 1: PURPOSE. The purpose of these Rules of Procedure (“Rules”) is to provide 32 for the smooth and orderly functioning of the business of the Board of County Commissioners 33 (“Board”) and to provide a basis for resolving questions of procedure when they arise. 34 35 SECTION 2: APPLICABILITY. These Rules shall govern all official meetings of the 36 Board. The members of the Board, County staff, and the public shall adhere to these Rules. 37 38 SECTION 3: RULES OF ORDER. To the extent they are not in conflict with these 39 Rules, Roberts Rules of Order Revised shall serve as a guide to official meetings of the Board. 40 Accordingly, no action taken by the Board shall be deemed void or invalid because of the failure 41 to adhere to Roberts Rules of Order Revised. 42 43 SECTION 4: PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chairman shall preside at all meetings of 44 the Board. In the absence of the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman shall preside. In the absence of the 45 Chairman and Vice-Chairman, a presiding officer shall be selected by a majority vote of those 46 Commissioners present. The presiding officer of the Board shall have the following functions: 1 47 48 a. Opening the meeting and calling the meeting the order, having ascertained that a quorum 49 is present. 50 51 b. Announce the business to come before the Board, in accordance with the prescribed order 52 of business. 53 54 c. Recognizing Commissioners to speak. 55 56 d. Recognizing members of the public or staff to speak. 57 58 e. Deciding all questions of order. 59 60 f. Preserving decorum and order, an in case of disturbance or disorderly conduct in the 61 Commission Chambers, may cause the same to be cleared or cause any disruptive individual to be 62 removed in order to maintain and preserve decorum and civility. 63 64 g. Adjourning meetings when there is a sudden emergency affecting the safety of the Board 65 and others. 66 67 The decision of the presiding officer shall stand unless reversed by a majority vote of the 68 members present after the proper motion has been made and seconded to reverse such a decision. 69 70 SECTION 5: RULES OF DEBATE. 71 72 a. Decorum. 73 74 1. Every Commissioner desiring to speak should address the Chairman, and upon 75 said recognition by the Chairman, should confine discussion to the question under debate. 76 77 2. Commissioners shall refrain from: attacking another individual’s motives; 78 speaking adversely on a prior motion not pending; speaking while another Commissioner 79 is speaking; speaking against their own motions; and generally disturbing the Board. 80 81 3. A Commissioner once recognized should not be interrupted when speaking unless 82 the Commissioner is being called to order. The Commissioner should then cease speaking 83 until the question of order is determined, without debate, by the Chairman. If in order, 84 said Commissioner shall be at liberty to proceed. 85 86 4. A Commissioner shall be deemed to have yielded the floor when he/she has 87 finished speaking. Commissioners may claim the floor only when recognized by the 88 Chairman. 2 89 b. Motions. 90 91 1. A motion and a second to the motion shall precede any action on an agenda item. 92 A second merely implies that the Commissioner agrees that the motion should come before 93 the Board and not that he/she necessarily favors the motion. 94 95 2. Types of Motions: 96 97 a) Main Motion: brings a matter before the Board. 98 99 b) Divide the Question: divides a motion into two or more separate motions. 100 101 c) Amend: modifies the main motion, in whole or in part. 102 103 d) Postpone to a Certain Time: state the time the motion or agenda item 104 will be resumed. 105 106 e) Postpone Indefinitely: disposes of a question without bringing it to a 107 direct vote. 108 109 f) Close Debate: closes debate on the motion (same as “calling the 110 question”) 111 3. Steps in handling a motion: 112 113 a) Any Commissioner wishing to make a motion shall address the Chairman. 114 Once recognized, the Commissioner shall state the motion. 115 116 b) Another Commissioner may second the motion. 117 118 c) The Chairman restates the motion, thus placing it before the Board for 119 consideration. 120 121 d) Discussion ensues. 122 123 e) The Chairman takes and announces the vote. 124 125 4. If the Chairman wishes to put forth or second a motion, he/she shall relinquish the 126 Chair to the Vice-Chairman until the main motion, on which he/she spoke, has been disposed. 127 128 5. An amendment to a motion must be germane, that is, it must relate to the 129 substance of the main motion. An amendment may not introduce an independent question, and 130 an amendment may not serve as the equivalent of rejecting the original motion. 3 131 c. Debate. 132 133 1. Every Commissioner has the right to speak on every motion before it is finally 134 acted upon. 135 136 2. All discussion must be confined to the immediately pending question and to 137 whether or not it should be adopted. 138 139 3. No Commissioner may speak twice on the same motion as long as any other 140 Commissioner who has not spoken on the motion desires to do so. 141 142 SECTION 6: VOTING. 143 144 a. Voting. Unless otherwise directed by the Chairman, all votes shall be taken by voice or 145 by electronic vote, if available. 146 147 b. Tabulating the Vote. The Chairman shall tabulate the votes and announce the results. 148 149 150 c. Duty to Vote. Every Commissioner must vote, unless they publicly stated that they are 151 abstaining from voting due to a conflict of interest pursuant to Section 112.3143, Florida Statutes. 152 If any Commissioner declines to vote “aye” or “nay” by voice or electronic vote, his/her silence 153 or inaction shall be counted as an “aye” vote. 154 155 d. Changing Vote. Any Commissioner may change his/her vote before the next item is 156 called for consideration, or before a recess or adjournment is called, whichever occurs first, but 157 not thereafter. 158 159 e. Majority Vote; Supermajority Vote; Tie Vote. The passage of any motion, policy, 160 ordinance or resolution shall require the affirmative vote of at least the majority of the Board 161 who are present and eligible to vote. If a supermajority vote is required by Florida Statutes, this 162 shall require the affirmative vote of a majority plus one member who are present and eligible to 163 vote. 164 165 166 SECTION 7: AGENDA. 167 168 Prior to a Board’s meeting, an agenda will be prepared and made available to the public 169 which will set forth the matters that will be considered at the meeting. Additional matters may be 170 added to the agenda and considered by the Board, with the affirmative vote of a supermajority of 171 the Board, as that term is defined above. 172 173 SECTION 8: PERIODIC REVIEW. 174 175 The Board shall periodically review these Rules and adopt any amendments deemed 176 necessary. Amendments to these Rules shall be approved and adopted by the Board in the form of 177 a resolution. 4 178 179 SECTION 9: EFFECTIVE DATE 180 181 These Rules shall become effective immediately upon adoption by the Board and shall 182 supersede all other rules previously adopted by the Board. 183 184 ADOPTED this day of 2017. 185 186 187 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS 188 OKALOOSA COUNTY, FLORIDA 189 190 191 By: ______________________________ 192 Carolyn N. Ketchel, Chairman 193 194 195 196 197 ATTEST: 198 199 200 By: _ 201 J.D. Peacock II 202 Clerk of Circuit Court 203 204 205 206 APPROVED AS TO FORM: 207 208 209 210 By:_______________________________ 211 Gregory T. Stewart 212 County Attorney 213 214 5