Editor: 

{sidebar id=1}This is a long, informative and necessary letter. 

At the August 6 Board of County Commissioners’ meeting three commissioners voted not to allow any discussions of items placed on the Consent Agenda for that meeting.  Apparently none of them, the County Administrator nor the County Attorney know the meaning of consent.  Once again Commissioners Kessler and Green appear to be the only knowledgeable commissioners. 

Searching the internet reveals many discussions about the consent agenda and its use.  Following are excerpts from two writings:  “The consent agenda practice should not be used unless all members of the board understand and agree to its use.  This approach places more responsibility upon members to prepare prior to the meeting.  Obviously, if members do not read the information on the consent agenda prior to the meeting, they cannot responsibly agree to the inclusion of any particular item on the consent agenda.  The worst outcome would be to take action on a matter of significant programmatic or legal importance without truly having the board’s informed consent”.

The other article I read on the web pretty much conveys the same message:  “The consent agenda is not a way to push things through without proper discussion and debate.  In fact, it should not be used for decision items”.

No one outside the loop can know why the Board chose not to allow any items to be pulled from the consent agenda Monday night when that has always been the practice in the past.  What can be known is that once again they have violated their own rules.  Below is a letter I hand delivered to the County Administration Office on August 8th.  The message is clear and concise and we can only hope for results.  

    
August 7, 2007

Wakulla County Board of Commissioners
P. O. Box 1263
Crawfordville, Florida    32326

Re: Consent Agenda

Gentlemen:

Once again it has been disappointing to see you in action.  Your inconsistency continues in spite of your having spent much time developing policies for conducting the BOCC meetings.  I have witnessed your violating several of the rules of procedure you approved in April, the most recent being the consent agenda discussion at the meeting last night.

Under the Agenda Format for Regular Meeting, on page 4, item number six reads “Consent Items Pulled for Discussion”.  On page 5, item H, one reads “Consent Agenda. …………………any Commissioner, the County Administrator, or the County Attorney may withdraw an item from the consent agenda, provided that such request is made to the Chairman, in writing, 24 hours (excluding holidays) before the subject meeting, and it shall be voted on individually.”  Robert’s Rules allows the same procedure.

Do you not realize how much credibility you lose by not following your own rules?  Why have rules if you do not follow them?  Citizens are required to do what you say, like speaking only 3 minutes, so why don’t you do what the rules say you will do in the rules passed in April?  It would be more civil just to repeal those rules and announce at the beginning of each meeting what the rules will be during that session. That would probably not stop the bickering among yourselves but at least you would not be breaking rules that have been published and approved by you.

Please review the CDs/DVDs of a few past meetings and carefully observe your behavior.

Thank you,

Jimmie Doyle

Jimmie Doyle
Crawfordville

This letter originally published on August 9, 2007.

Written by :

Jimmie Doyle

 

Comments (1)

MRS. DOYLE HITS A HOMER--WITHOUT THE STEROIDS!, One of t

August 10, 2007     

One of the over TWO MILLION returns for "consent agenda" from GOOGLE . . . "The consent agenda is not a way to push things through without proper discussion and debate. In fact, it should not be used for decision items." What do you expect from a commission that (I thought) hit a low point when a "free speech" day resolution failed? Can they get any lower, them 3/2ers? Is there any commission that's more inclined to say "hold m'beer and watch this" politically or policy-wise than these guys? First it was a free speech day that failed to pass (Brimner), then a 2/2 board (Brimner again--what was that man thinking), then the worse excuse for a consent agenda (Brimner again) Three strikes and you're out, commissioner?

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