By Michael Howell
The County Commissioners approved some amendments to the by-laws governing the Planning Board last week. The primary change was to reduce the number of voting members from 12 to 11 to bring it into compliance with state law that requires an odd number of voting members on the board. The Planning Board would continue to be comprised of 12 members but the new rules make the Park Board representative a non-voting position.
Another change adopted by the commissioners reduces the regular meeting times to four times a year, one meeting in the months of January, April, July, and October. All other meetings would be called as special meetings. According to Planning Administrator Terry Nelson, this alleviates the problem of having to cancel meetings when there is no business to be done, but ensures that the board meets at least once in the four months required by state law.
The quorum required to do business will be based on the number of voting members, meaning that at least six of the 11 voting members must be in attendance.
The revised by-laws also make it plain that no member who was absent from any portion of a discussion about a pending subdivision can vote on the recommendation to be made to the commissioners unless they had an opportunity to listen to the audio recording of the discussions prior to voting.