(9/20) The Planning Commission began reviewing and updating their operating Rules of Procedure at the August meeting. These rules guide the Commission to work in an orderly and just fashion. One of these Rules of Procedure includes changing when the Commission will hold meetings during busier months, July, November, and December specifically. Planning and Zoning Administrator Susan Hauver said the topic had been discussed at prior meetings and asked if the Commission wished to officially change it to follow the same format as the Town Council meetings.
The Commission currently holds regular meetings on the fourth Tuesday with workshops on the second Tuesday. Because of holidays in July, November and December, the Commission usually holds their regular meeting earlier in the month on the second Tuesday. Hauver asked if they wanted to officially have the Rules and Procedures changed to mirror that action. Chair David Ennis showed his favor of the change, saying, "It would be easier on staff if we follow the Burgess and Commissioner’s July, November and December schedule."
Another topic was the future of the Town’s meeting minutes. Currently they are written in a narrative format to include detailed notes about each discussion point, how the Commission voted and what (if any) public or Commission members opinions are expressed. Hauver suggested that with the addition of video recordings of the meetings, the Town could consider the video as the official meeting minutes with a shorter version of minutes written down in hard copy form. Ennis preferred keeping the written notes, saying, "One thing about written copies is it’s always there. Video and the media are always changing."
According to Hauver, the minutes must be kept forever per the Town’s policy, however they do not have to be super detailed. The Town saves the minutes to two external drives and keeps hard copies in file cabinets. "We could do a condensed version of the minutes discussing motions and who spoke and then go to the video recording to get exactly what was said," she suggested. "One thing we like about Frederick County meeting recordings is how you can go directly to the agenda item via a link and have all of the paperwork and minutes right there," said Hauver. "It’s a pretty sophisticated level of archiving that we don’t have."
Hauver also discussed Rules of Procedure regarding Commission member attendance at meetings. Her concern was specifically about the number of days before a meeting a member is required to give notice of an upcoming absence; current rules state five days. "This isn’t as much of an issue here as it is at the Burgess and Commissioner level," she said. She pointed out that most members can only give one day of notice, but as long as they have a quorum at the meeting it's not an issue.
Hauver said she would continue researching the changes to the Rules and Procedures before introducing official language to make the changes.
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