By DOTTY NIST
The Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) has approved a set of meeting procedures in a 4-1 vote.
The decision was made at the Nov. 24 BCC regular meeting at the Walton County Courthouse.
The meeting procedure document was part of the agenda packet. In bringing up the item, Walton County Administrator Larry Jones indicated that the procedures were those currently in use by the BCC in consolidated format with some public participation items included.
On Nov. 22, Bob Hudson, executive director for the Walton County Taxpayers Association (WCTA) had requested that the meeting procedures item be removed from the Nov. 24 agenda and not acted on pending the holding of meetings on the topic previously requested by the WCTA.
On June 8 and on Nov. 10, WCTA representatives had come before the BCC to request meetings on the issue between theirs and other interested community organizations and county officials and staff, including the county administrator, county attorney, and BCC chair. Those meetings that had not been held.
Sara Comander, appointed new BCC chair earlier in the meeting, observed that the procedures were “very standard” and “more lenient” than those of other boards that she had served on.
However, District 5 Commissioners Cindy Meadows commented that while she was “good with them,” she would like to postpone final action to allow for public input on the procedures, not only at the Nov. 24 meeting but at the next BCC meeting in south Walton County. She reasoned that it would be a good idea to take comments both north and south of the bay, adding that many people who might want to provide input were currently out of town because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Comander suggested going ahead and approving the procedures and allowing any citizens wanting to talk about them to get with one or more of the commissioners individually to do so, with any possible changes to the procedures resulting from that dialog to be brought to a future BCC meeting for consideration.
District 2 Commissioner Cecilia Jones also spoke in favor of representatives of the WCTA and any other interested groups, including the South Walton Community Council and the Walton County Small Business Association making an appointment with Comander for discussion on the topic and for Comander to bring forward to the BCC any proposals for changes to the procedures.
“Why meet in private and have to bring it back?” Meadows asked.
Coming forward to address the commissioners, Bob Hudson said that after requesting meetings on the topic with the administrator, attorney and BCC chairman, WCTA representatives had come away thinking that the county would schedule and facilitate the meeting that had been requested. He acknowledged that he had had medical issues soon after the June request but said that he had contacted Administrator Jones a couple of months later to let him know that he was “back in the saddle.”
Hudson said the WCTA did not want to tell the BCC how to run their meetings. “Our issue is that we believe the public has the right to be involved in this process,” he explained.
Hudson added that the organization would like to understand and educate its members on the procedures, since many of them do participate in BCC meetings. He said he was hopeful that this could occur in an “atmosphere of cooperation.”
Hudson suggested that the meeting between the community organization members and the county officials and staff be in the form of a workshop and that the workshop be held prior to the BCC taking action on the meeting procedures.
Meadows made a motion to schedule the requested workshop at 3 p.m. prior to the next BCC regular meeting on Dec. 8. “We have to remember we work for them,” she said of the citizens.
The motion was seconded for discussion by District 1 Commissioner Bill Chapman but failed, with Meadows’ the only aye vote.
The procedure document specified that people wanting to address the BCC on agendaed items or during scheduled public hearings be limited to three minutes of comment. Comander said she knew that people wanted to be able to speak longer but that allowing that could result in BCC meetings continuing until midnight. She expressed willingness to meet with Zuma Banks, WCTA president, for discussion on the matter. “These are really standard meeting procedures,” Comander repeated.
“What is wrong with moving it to a workshop to listen to the people?” Meadows persisted.
She pointed out that citizens not associated with any group might want to express their opinion and that meeting with individual commissioners might require some residents to drive long distances.
Comander and Commissioner Jones responded that they often drove south of the bay to meet with citizens.
District 3 Commissioner Bill Imfeld moved for approval of the meeting procedures as presented.
Meadows stated that she would have the topic of meeting procedures placed with items under her name at the Dec. 8 BCC meeting in order to provide for public comment. Any citizen, she said, would be allowed to speak regardless of whether they had met with a commissioner to provide input on the matter as discussed.
Imfeld’s motion for approval of the meeting procedures carried in a 4-1 vote, with Meadows voting no.
