Chesterfield County, Virginia | 2005 Procedures of the Board of Supervisors

BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Chesterfield in accordance with Section 3.4 of the County Charter that the following rules of procedures shall govern the conduct of meetings and work sessions of the Board of Supervisors during the 2008 calendar year.

Section 1. The Board's parliamentary procedures shall conform with law and the historical practices of the Board of Supervisors. The County Attorney shall act as parliamentarian to the Board. To the extent necessary to address any ambiguities in procedure, the County Attorney may consider the most recent edition of Robert’s Rules of Order, a Manual of General Parliamentary Law for guidance. Any questions involving the application of rules of procedure or the interpretation of Robert’s Rules shall be decided by the County Attorney.

Section 2. The chairman, or the vice chairman, or in their absence the most senior member of the Board alphabetically, shall preside at all meetings of the Board, and on the appearance of a quorum shall call the meeting to order, and the Board shall then proceed with its business.

Section 3. The presiding officer shall preserve order and decorum. He may speak, make motions, and vote on all questions, and he shall decide questions of order and procedure. The Chairman may set reasonable time limits for speakers and public hearings; provided that by majority vote the Board may reject such time limits.

Section 4. A quorum shall consist of at least three members of the Board. A majority of a quorum shall be sufficient to carry any question except tax issues, incurring of debt and appropriations in excess of $500, all of which shall require a majority of the full Board for adoption. No Board member is required to vote on any question, but an abstention, although not a vote in favor of carrying a question, shall be counted as a vote for the purpose of determining a quorum. A tie vote shall defeat the motion, resolution or issue voted on, provided that all zoning cases must be disposed of by a motion approved by a majority of those voting. An abstention is considered a vote for all purposes and defeats a motion requiring a unanimous vote. The Board shall not designate a tiebreaker pursuant to § 15.2‑1421 of the Code of Virginia.

Section 5. The order of business at a regular meeting of the Board shall be as follows beginning at 3 p.m. or an alternate specified meeting time:

(a) Approval of minutes of the previous meeting. Reading of the minutes shall be automatically dispensed with.

(d) Requests to postpone action, additions, deletions or changes in the order of presentation with respect to any matter on the agenda.

(h) New county business not requiring a public hearing, including deferred and new appointments and claims against the Board or County.

(j) Fifteen-minute citizen comment period on unscheduled matters involving the services, policies and affairs of the County government.

(l) Non‑sectarian invocations in accordance with the Clerk’s scheduling policy followed by the pledge of allegiance at 6:30 p.m.

(n) Fifteen-minute citizen comment period on unscheduled matters involving the services, policies and affairs of the County government.

(p) Zoning and mobile home public hearings placed on the consent agenda by the Planning Department.

(q) Remaining public hearings or zoning public hearings based on appropriate meeting date.

(r) Fifteen-minute citizen comment period on unscheduled matters involving the services, policies and affairs of the County government.

Section 6. Each citizen comment period shall be limited to 15 minutes and each speaker may not exceed 3 minutes. Citizens may only speak once per meeting during the citizen comment periods. No citizen shall speak on any matter of business that is a subject on the Board’s agenda for that day. Citizens may not yield time to other speakers. Any person desiring to speak shall sign up at the meeting prior to the afternoon or evening session. At the beginning of the citizen comment period the clerk will read the names and comments will be given in the order of the sign-up sheet. Each citizen comment period will end after 15 minutes, regardless of the number of people who have signed up to speak.

Section 7. a.) Any Board member may remove an item from the consent agenda for comment by the Board. Any person may publicly speak to an item on that meeting's "Consent Agenda" for up to three minutes, so long as the Board votes to remove a consent item from the Consent Agenda for public comment. The Board may accept written comments in lieu of oral statements.
b.) Any person may speak at a public hearing for up to three minutes. An applicant in a zoning case may give an opening presentation of the zoning case for up to 15 minutes, regardless of the number of speakers the applicant chooses to give the presentation, and may give a rebuttal after all citizens have spoken for up to 5 minutes, regardless of the number of speakers the applicant chooses to give the rebuttal.

Section 8. The order of business at a special meeting shall follow that of a regular meeting to the greatest extent possible.

Section 9. The clerk of the Board shall prepare and maintain adequate minutes of the proceedings of the Board in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended. Each recorded vote shall indicate how each member of the Board voted. Preparation of minutes will not include every aspect of the Board's meetings relating specifically to discussion and debate, but will include all significant events relating to official action. Minutes shall be included as part of the agenda package for the subsequent meeting of the Board.

Section 10. The Board may correct its minutes after approval of the minutes only upon a clear showing that a clerical or administrative mistake was made.

Section 11. The county administrator shall prepare an agenda for each regular or special meeting of the Board on which shall appear the title of each matter on which action is to be taken at that meeting. The agenda for each regular meeting shall (a) be prepared at least five days prior to the meeting, (b) be promptly mailed or delivered to each member of the Board or placed in the repository assigned to such Board member, and (c) be distributed to appropriate officers and employees of the county government and members of the public and media requesting copies.

Section 12. Upon a majority vote of the Board of Supervisors, any item may be added when the agenda is voted on, and the chairman may allow any agenda item to be called out of sequence.

Section 13. Any matter not on the scheduled agenda, may be heard after the agenda has been approved by the Board only upon the unanimous vote of the Board members present. Any such matter must be of an emergency nature, vital to the continued proper and lawful operation of the county.

Section 14. No matter on the scheduled agenda shall be considered after 11 p.m. without the unanimous consent of the Board. Any matter not heard shall be automatically continued to the next appropriate scheduled meeting of the Board.

Section 15. When a motion is under debate, no additional motions may be made except a motion to withdraw, defer, substitute, or to amend. If the maker of a motion and the member seconding the motion agree, a motion may be amended or withdrawn. Such motions shall take precedence in the order listed above. Only one substitute motion shall be in order for a principal motion. All motions to defer shall be to a date certain. Prior to voting on a motion to defer or remand, the Board shall hear public comments on the issue of deferral or remand if the scheduled item requires a public hearing.

Section 16. Any vote by a member of the Board is final once cast. Planning Commission decisions are final once made. No ordinance, resolution or motion previously voted upon by the Board shall be brought forward for reconsideration during the same meeting of the Board and shall be final unless changed by the Board at a subsequent meeting in accordance with law.

Section 17. Each member of the Board may participate in discussion of any issue only after being recognized by the chairman. The chairman shall not recognize a motion to "call the question" until every member desiring to speak has had a chance to speak. At the conclusion of debate, the question shall be called and no further debate shall be in order.

Section 18. Each year at its organizational meeting the Board shall set the regular meeting times and dates for the following year provided, however, that the Board shall meet at least once each month. Whenever the regularly scheduled meeting date shall fall on a legal holiday, the regular meeting of the Board shall be held on the following day in accordance with §15.2‑1416 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended. The chairman may cancel any meeting because of inclement weather and should reschedule any canceled meeting at the earliest possible date by sending written notice to each member of the Board.

Section 19. Special meetings of the Board may be called by two members of the Board or the chairman in accordance with §§ 15.2‑1417 and 15.2‑1418 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended. Upon making such request, the clerk shall specify the matters to be considered and shall notify in writing all members of the Board and the county attorney immediately. The meeting may be held only if waivers are signed by every member of the Board and the county attorney, or if every member and the county attorney attend the special meeting.
Appointments

Section 20. Appointments to committees of the Board and to authorities, boards and commissions shall be made only by resolution adopted by a majority of the full Board at a meeting subsequent to the meeting when the name has been offered to the Board for consideration. Prior to consideration of the nomination, the nominee shall be notified to determine his willingness to serve and to determine if he meets the minimum qualifications for such appointment.

Section 21. The Chairman or the Board may create committees and shall appoint members to such committees in the same fashion in which the committee was created. Committees may hold hearings and perform such other duties as may be prescribed. A committee may be instructed concerning the form of any report it shall be requested to make, and a time may be fixed for submission of any report. The Chairman may create, and appoint members to, a Budget and Audit Committee, a School Board Liaison Committee and a County Employee Benefits Committee and other committees as may be necessary.

Section 22. No zoning case shall be considered by the Board of Supervisors if amendments, changes, withdrawals or proffers have been submitted by the applicant after the case has appeared in the newspaper pursuant to the required publication. All such cases shall be deferred to the next appropriate Board meeting for consideration or remanded to the Planning Commission after proper readvertising.

Section 23. If a majority of the Board is not reelected, no appropriation for any capital project or operational program for a magisterial district or zoning case shall be considered by the Board of Supervisors after November 8, 2011 until the organizational meeting in January 2012 unless such delay for the zoning case would exceed 12 months.

Section 24. The rules of procedure of the governing body may be amended at any time during the year by a unanimous vote of the full Board.

Section 25. The Board of Supervisors may suspend the application of any section of these rules by a unanimous affirmative vote of all Board members present at any time during the agenda.

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Chesterfield Officials

2008 PROCEDURES OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS