Proposed Bylaws of Twenty Three Mile Slough
Road Service Area
Road service responsibilities as identified by Borough regulations:
• Road service area commissioners are responsible for making recommendations to the FNSB Assembly for road construction and/or maintenance and recommendations for the tax levy. After Assembly approval of budget the commission then supervises and manages the approved work. The commission is also responsible to implement policies and programs to protect the safety of the public.
• Commissioners are volunteers who serve 2 year terms at the discretion of the mayor and Assembly. Any resident of the area who is registered to vote may apply for a position on the 4 member commission.
• Three commissioners are allowed to vote, the 4th, alternate, is available to vote if a commissioner is absent
• The commission is responsible for encouraging participation and communication with residents and property owners. To do this they must:
o Hold quarterly general meetings. Special meetings to discuss specific topics may be called as needed
o Prior to August 28th of each year a list of special projects is submitted to the borough. This list needs to be presented to community with input into priorities. As money becomes available the borough chooses from these submissions
o Before March 15th the commission submits their comprehensive budget including proposed short and long term maintenance, permanent improvements and strategic plans. All of this needs to be discussed and voted on at a regularly scheduled public meeting
o Meetings must follow the open meetings act including, public notice at least 5 days prior to meeting and giving the public a reasonable right to be heard
o Each commission needs to elect a Chairman and Secretary. It is the responsibility of the Secretary to take minutes which are kept to record the vote of every member on each question. Minutes need to be submitted to the borough so they are available for public inspection.
Rules of procedure specific to Twenty Three Mile Slough Road Service Area
• Advertising of meetings
o At January meeting set meetings for the following year
o Postcard sent out 2 weeks before meeting to all property owners
o Notify Rural Services about meeting 2 weeks prior to meeting – must fill out meeting advertising notice
o The week before meeting post sign at beginning of road and send out email reminder.
• Yearly meeting schedule
o Winter meeting - vote on comprehensive budget including proposed short and long term maintenance, permanent improvements and strategic plans. Review of contractors performance and vote on renewing maintenance contract. Set meeting dates for the following year.
o Spring meeting - nominate & vote on commissioners to recommend to the Mayor, discussion on breakup problems & repair and summer maintenance
o Summer meeting - Vote on chairman and secretary. Vote on capital project submittal
o Fall meeting –Discussion on tax cap adjustment.
• Finances
o Authorization to spend money will be voted on at a quarterly meeting. No additional money may be spent without another vote at advertised special meeting
• Agenda format to include
o Guest Presentations/comments
o Call to Order by chairman
o Introductions/Sign in, must be signed by everyone present
o Approval of Agenda – additions/corrections may be recommended from all present
o Approval of Prior Minutes - discussion with all present, followed by a vote of commissioners
o Financial Report compiled by Chairman
o Old Business
o New Business
o Public Comments
o Commissioner Comments
District Committee News
o Next Meeting date and time
o Adjournment
Voting Procedure – Anyone present may call for a vote, a 2nd is not needed. Discussion will follow which may be limited by the chairman due to time constraints. All present vote in “straw poll”, but commissioners will make the final binding vote.
Special committees will be established as needed.
Revision of these bylaws may be made by a majority vote of commissioners at any advertised meeting.
3 comments:
I looked briefly at the proposed by law changes for the 23 mile slough area and have a question. Since I am not an attorney and don't play one on TV :) I can't make a fully informed opinion about the proposed changes at this point. I see that this was also sent to Tim Beck (who also isn't an attorney, but has experience with the existing rules), so maybe my question would be for him. The question is...Do these proposed changes in any way conflict with Borough or State laws/ordinances that might already be in place? I would hate for us to adopt rules that might sound good to us, but that are not possible under existing laws/ordinances. Any input I would appreciate
A couple of comments regarding the proposed Bylaws
1) The first page of the proposed bylaws and much of the second page is a simple repeat of existing Borough code. If adopted, these bylaws would have to be changed every time the Borough changes its code. I would recommend wording that ends with the colon in the first line. Anything else is subject to change by the Borough and the RSA has no ability to affect those changes.
2) On page 2, the proposed bylaws would require use of Postcard notification. If the RSA decided to use letters or flyers instead, it could not do so without changing the bylaws or suspending them. Wording should be simple: Notification will be made 2 weeks before meeting to all property owners.
3) On page 2, I think the voting procedure is not in compliance with Borough regs. The only people who can vote at RSA meetings are the commissioners. Saying that anyone present can call for a vote is not in accordance with Roberts Rules of Order. Only members of the commission can call for a vote. Straw polls are certainly appropriate to get a sense of the desires of the residents but should be done in a manner which allows all residents to vote, not just those present at the meeting. Additionally, consensus building should be included. An example is the current consensus approach regarding hand pulling of weeds as opposed to spraying which is going on via e-mail. Consensus is much better than confrontational voting.
I hope that nothing has been included in these proposed bylaws that conflicts with borough code, hopefully someone with more of a legal eye can give input on that.
I think it is important to write down existing requirements by the borough so it is easy for those interested to see what is mandated for our RSA to be doing. Ample notification by the borough regarding any changes will be given to the RSA so that changes can be made to the first page.
I think changing the postcard to "notification by mail will be made 2 weeks ....." is a good idea
In speaking with Rural services I was told that we can adopt any voting rules we want. We do not have to follow Roberts Rules it just needs to be written down and voted on what our voting procedures are. Just in case I am wrong I have included Bill Gryder in this email to make sure we are in compliance.
I do not know what consensus building means. I think by sending out these emails, asking people to contribute their ideas in the meetings and allowing a straw vote we are trying to build a consensus. As you say, in the end, it is the vote of the commissioners which really matters. I just think if they get the word that few if any land owners want spraying for weeds they will have a difficult time voting to spray in front of all of us. However, they do have the power to do that. We do have an opening for an alternate on our commission.
Hopefully we will hear from Rural Services or Tim Beck what they think about these proposed bylaws.
Robyn
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