Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Open Meetings

There will be an Advisory Committee Meeting on Tuesday, August 19th, AT 10:00am, to be held in the Clubhouse Music Room
Agenda
Wave the reading and approval of previous meeting (September 14, 2006)
Discussion of UCO Bylaws

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Discussion of UCO Bylaws... I'm glad that I "subscribe" to the Blog so that I might be more prepared come Tuesday. As far as I know, the discussions of the Advisory Committee will focus on the tweaked 'Open Meeting Resolution' which permits less stringent restrictions to be applied to certain types of meetings. The following is the complete Open Meeting Resolution. Please bear in mind that Sections 1, 2, and 4 have been approved by the Delegate Assembly on July 11th, 2008. Section 3 is the proposed amendment to this resolution, which shall be presented at the August meeting of the DA after review by the Officers' Committee and Executive Board.

A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS CONFIRMING
THE MEANING AND INTENT OF THE GOVERNMENT-IN-THE-SUNSHINE PROVISION OF THE UCO BYLAWS (ARTICLE XI, PARAGRAPH H)

Whereas, The Board of Directors must determine for itself the meaning of its Bylaws; and

Whereas, The meaning of the “Sunshine Amendment” to the UCO Bylaws has been broadly construed, whereby the established custom of open meetings has been altered by a new policy without the approval of the Board of Directors of UCO;

Therefore, be it RESOLVED by the Board of Directors of the United Civic Organization, Inc.

Section 1: THAT the Sunshine Amendment to the UCO Bylaws requires that 1) non-exempted meetings of boards and committees must be open; 2) reasonable notice of such meetings must be given, and 3) minutes of such meetings must be taken and made available upon request;

Section 2: THAT the Sunshine Amendment to the UCO Bylaws applies to all discussions or deliberations as well as formal action taken by boards and committees of UCO, except for those meetings or portions of meetings specifically exempted by this Amendment. It is applicable to any gathering, whether formal or casual, of a quorum of members of the same board or committee to discuss some matter on which foreseeable action or recommendations for action will be taken;

Section 3: THAT the Officers’ Committee shall be exempt from these meeting provisions in order to make the mundane and low impact decisions necessary to be made on a regular basis or to hold meetings for the purpose of information sharing and informal discussion on matters of importance, except, that the monthly meetings or Special Meetings or informal meetings on any matter that requires AND produces a final Officers’ Committee recommendation to the Executive Board and/or the Delegate Assembly shall be bound by the provisions of this Resolution. In addition, meetings of the any committee which are of such a time sensitive nature that they cannot reasonably meet the 48 hour noticing requirement may be held without such notice. The minutes of any such “Emergency Meetings” shall be recorded and distributed to the Executive Board and Delegate Assembly along with the minutes of the monthly meetings of the Officers’ Committee.

Section 4: THAT boards and committees are permitted to adopt written reasonable rules and regulations which ensure the orderly conduct of a meeting and which require orderly behavior on the part of the non-members attending. This includes limiting the time and frequency that an individual can speak and, when a large number of people attend and wish to speak, requesting that a representative on each side of the issue speak rather than everyone present. In addition, the manner of participation should also be adopted as a written reasonable rule. The board or committee shall determine that non-members are permitted to speak to each agenda item at the beginning of the meeting, or in the alternative, prior to the deliberation of each item of business. In the event that items of business not listed on the agenda are considered, non-member participation shall also be ensured by the board or committee. Agendas shall be posted along with the notice of the board or committee meeting at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting. Voting by secret ballot shall not be permitted except for the appointment or dismissal of committee members by the committee itself.

Anonymous said...

Sorry folks... I've detected a last minute typographical error.

"In addition, meetings of the any committee which are of such a time sensitive nature that they cannot reasonably meet the 48 hour noticing requirement may be held without such notice."

Please strike out the "the". I'm posting this at 1:40 a.m., so kindly forgive the typo.

Any and all constructive views on this "tweaked" resolution are genuinely welcomed. Good nite all.

Anonymous said...

O.K. ... The SEPTEMBER meeting of the Delegate Assembly. Knew I should have waited 'till morning to post my response.