Adjourn or recess, multiple entities, multiple meetings, same body

[Guest Chris]

Setting: A local government body wears multiple hats as the board of multiple political subdivisions.  The main entity is county council, secondary to that may be several other entities,  which they are also the board of (i.e. building authority,  reinvestment agency, special service district, etc). 

In a single day, the county council must suspend their meeting in order to call to order these other entitys' meetings, and then resume the county council meeting after these other entities meetings are adjourned.

The question is, whether the county council should suspend their meeting by adjournment or recess in order to call to order the meeting of another entity's meeting that they are also the board of?

As the county council would like to consider the sum of the "resumed" meetings as one session (with one set of minutes) I think the appropriate motion should be to call a recess. Then call to order the other entity, execute and adjourn its business, then call to order the county council session again...reserving adjournment for the final action of the day. 

The alternative would be to adjourn and call to order the county council session multiple times in the same day. Which doesn't make much sense to me. 

What do you think?

 

[Josh Martin]

12 hours ago, Guest Chris said:

Setting: A local government body wears multiple hats as the board of multiple political subdivisions.  The main entity is county council, secondary to that may be several other entities,  which they are also the board of (i.e. building authority,  reinvestment agency, special service district, etc). 

In a single day, the county council must suspend their meeting in order to call to order these other entitys' meetings, and then resume the county council meeting after these other entities meetings are adjourned.

The question is, whether the county council should suspend their meeting by adjournment or recess in order to call to order the meeting of another entity's meeting that they are also the board of?

 As the county council would like to consider the sum of the "resumed" meetings as one session (with one set of minutes) I think the appropriate motion should be to call a recess. Then call to order the other entity, execute and adjourn its business, then call to order the county council session again...reserving adjournment for the final action of the day. 

The alternative would be to adjourn and call to order the county council session multiple times in the same day. Which doesn't make much sense to me. 

 What do you think?

I think either is permissible. I would note that in the event the motion to recess is used, then it is technically a single meeting of the county council. If adjournment is used, then adjourned meetings may be set, so that they are multiple meetings, but all part of the same session. See RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 81-89 for more information.

[Atul Kapur]

I suggest that this group keep separate minutes for each role that they are playing (eg: building authority, reinvestment agency, special service district, etc). The idea is to keep clear what hat they are wearing and what authority they are claiming when they take certain decisions. The council seems to recognize that it is not doing all of these things as the council - otherwise they would just do it in one meeting - so it would be best if the minutes reflected that.

This will also make it easier to find the decisions that this group took in the future.

I agree with you that recessing the council meeting is preferable to having several adjourned meetings in one day.

[Josh Martin]

50 minutes ago, Atul Kapur said:

I suggest that this group keep separate minutes for each role that they are playing (eg: building authority, reinvestment agency, special service district, etc). The idea is to keep clear what hat they are wearing and what authority they are claiming when they take certain decisions. The council seems to recognize that it is not doing all of these things as the council - otherwise they would just do it in one meeting - so it would be best if the minutes reflected that.

This will also make it easier to find the decisions that this group took in the future.

I agree with you that recessing the council meeting is preferable to having several adjourned meetings in one day.

Thank you for this addition. My response above was concerning the separate meetings (or portions of a single meeting) of the county council itself. I quite agree that the meetings of the other bodies (building authority, reinvestment agency, etc.) are separate meetings and sessions and must have separate minutes. These bodies are separate assemblies, notwithstanding that they consist of the same members.

Edited December 5, 2018 at 11:32 PM by Josh Martin

[J. J.]

I would be a bit concerned about a legal requirement for notification for an adjourned meeting.  That is a matter for the government's solicitor.