Phoning it in
The Aug. 18 Guilford County commissioners meeting featured a lively discussion about whether board members should be allowed to participate in meetings via telephone.
On that night, Skip Alston was the one phoning in from out of town. (Click here for the story. The discussion is noted toward the end.). Other commissioners have also phoned in when they can't make a meeting.
In the few meetings I've covered where this has happened, the officials who phone in rarely participate in the discussion. But they cast votes, and that's especially important on a closely divided board where one vote matters. The county says state law allows phone participation.
Last week, county manager Willie Best weighed in with a little context from other large North Carolina counties.
What do you think? Is phoning in simply a convenient way for elected officials with busy day jobs to conduct the county's business? Or should commissioners be physically present if they want to cast votes?
Comments (2)
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I disagree with Mr. Best's assessment that the statutes give commissioners a "right" to participate in a meeting by telephone. That's a conclusion drawn by Best that isn't in the statutes.
The statute Best cites (143‑318.10)is part of the "open-meetings" law, the purpose of which it to establish public access to meetings. It mentions telephone conference calls to assure that public bodies will not have secret meetings by telephone. That is clearly the reason telephone conversations are mentioned, not to establish how a commissioner may participate in meetings.
In fact, lacking any specifics about how commissioners must be accomodated if not physically present, I would say that the commissioners are free make their own rules about when they will allow a member to participate by phone.
Posted on August 29, 2005 10:10 PM
The democrat commissioners gave a 41%raise to each other,now they wan't to sat at home and watch tv,and vote on county business.What is next
Posted on August 30, 2005 7:38 AM