Guest Dan Posted October 14, 2011 at 01:47 AM Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 at 01:47 AM Are Board members required to respond to questions that are posed to them directly from a constituent?If time for research is required, is there a method by which they have to make their findings official and available to that constituent and the public? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Elsman Posted October 14, 2011 at 01:57 AM Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 at 01:57 AM No rule in RONR gives a non-member of the board the right to ask a question at a meeting of the board. If your board invites non-members to make remarks at a meeting of the board, the non-members are obligated to follow whatever rules about their form and content that the board has adopted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dan Posted October 14, 2011 at 02:23 AM Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 at 02:23 AM Good evening Mr. Elsman,The rules posted are extremely vague with regards to this matter. The most aplicable rule that I could find states:"District residents may suggest inclusions on the agenda. Items not specifically on the agenda may still be discussed during the meeting."Does "discussed" in this context require a response? I would assume that a board in session would/should be required to offer some response based on the rule stated above.Sincerely,Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nancy N> Posted October 14, 2011 at 08:37 AM Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 at 08:37 AM Dan, your guess is not just as good as ours; it's a lot better. We here can't give an informed opinion on your rules from this remove. RONR does provide useful principles of interpretation, which were on p. 570 - 573 until three weeks ago, so you can probably find them around p. 586 now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted October 14, 2011 at 09:10 AM Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 at 09:10 AM Are Board members required to respond to questions that are posed to them directly from a constituent?If time for research is required, is there a method by which they have to make their findings official and available to that constituent and the public?No, there are no such requirements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Cisar Posted October 14, 2011 at 10:11 AM Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 at 10:11 AM Dan, your guess is not just as good as ours; it's a lot better. We here can't give an informed opinion on your rules from this remove. RONR does provide useful principles of interpretation, which were on p. 570 - 573 until three weeks ago, so you can probably find them around p. 586 now.Pages 588-591. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Wynn Posted October 14, 2011 at 08:45 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 at 08:45 PM Good evening Mr. Elsman,The rules posted are extremely vague with regards to this matter. The most aplicable rule that I could find states:"District residents may suggest inclusions on the agenda. Items not specifically on the agenda may still be discussed during the meeting."Does "discussed" in this context require a response? I would assume that a board in session would/should be required to offer some response based on the rule stated above.Sincerely,DanI would not make such an assumption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dan Posted October 21, 2011 at 08:34 PM Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 at 08:34 PM First, thanks to everyone who responded.I have additional information from one of the board members, unofficially of course, if this helps anyone else out.Their interpretation of "discussion" is amongst the other board members only. The opportunity to speak by the public is granted to them from the board in order to bring information to light that the board might not have known about. The discussion, if any, is to take place amongst the board members and the person presenting that information may be called upon to answer their questions.I see the reasoning as far as controlling the duration and direction of a meeting, but highly contested issues should be granted some flexibility. It is difficult to have an official dialogue with the board as a whole since the opportunity usually only presents itself during such occasions. Best wishes,Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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