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Editor Note: A recent decision about the charter amendment process has reignited conversation about the last time around.
Ballot Question C Added
On August 4th 2020 the County Council introduced and adopted a resolution for a ballot question adding two seats to the county council. This question was placed on the ballot to defeat the nine districts ballot question which would have eliminated the four at large council seats. This ballot question was approved by voters and the nine districts question was defeated.
Rules Problems
The problem is, the County Council’s rules of procedure Rule 7 prohibits introducing and adopting a resolution on the same day, unless it contains a declaration of emergency. No such declaration was contained in the resolution.
County Council Rule 2 allows the Council to suspend other rules of procedure, if 2/3’s of council members vote to suspend certain rules. A vote suspending rules must be taken for each item the suspension applies to.
Video Review
A review of the video from the August 4th County Council meeting shows the Council voted to suspend Rule 7 for several items, but no such vote was taken for the resolution to increase the County council to 11 seats. See video time 58:00 (vote not taken for this resolution), 2:32:00 (vote was taken for another resolution).
The County Council added the question to the ballot expanding the Council to 11 seats with no public hearing, no public comment and by not following their own rules of procedure ( Rules 2 &7). They failed to vote to suspend Rule 7 before introducing and adopting the resolution on the same day
While parliamentary procedure allows suspension of rules for minor procedural matters, it is not intended for matters such as the requirement for public notice / comment. By introducing and adopting the ballot question resolution on the same day, there was no opportunity for public notice and comment on this resolution for a ballot question amending the County charter.
Mark – Upcounty Resident
I suppose that there is no county-provided recourse against the CC for violations of its own procedures and not being transparent? And if a citizen took it on the CC would merely use county funds to lawyer-up to make it very expensive for that citizen.