Stafford Supervisors Consider New Meeting Structure

Proposal is an effort to improve effectiveness, staff said.

by Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT

There will likely be a new structure to meetings of the Stafford Board of Supervisors, effective this August.

The board is considering a new agenda structure and meeting schedule drafted by staff in an attempt to improve “the effectiveness and operation of our meetings,” Donna Krauss, deputy county administrator, told supervisors at Tuesday’s meeting.

Photo by Lauren Sauder on Unsplash

Under the meeting structure presented by Krauss this week, the first Tuesday of every month—known as an A day—would be a business meeting with public comments; consent agenda items; reports from Board members, the County Attorney, the County Administrator, and partner agencies; action items; and a closed meeting.

The third Tuesday—B day—would be set aside for work sessions, presentations from county departments, and public hearings.

“These [meetings] are for large discussion items—those that deserve a lot of time and discussion,” Krauss said.

The fourth Tuesday would be reserved as needed for additional work sessions and discussions.

Currently, supervisors meet on the first and third Tuesdays of every month and the structure of both meetings is the same. The Board’s four standing committees—finance, audit, and budget; infrastructure; community and economic development; and public safety—meet starting at noon, followed by a 3 p.m. and a 7 p.m. full Board meeting.

The 3 p.m. meeting has time allotted for public comments; reports from Board members, the County Administrator and the County Attorney; consent agenda; unfinished and new business; and a closed session.

The 7 p.m. meeting also provides time for public comments and is when any public hearings are scheduled.

Krauss said Tuesday that the current structure poses logistical challenges for Board members, who must arrive early in the day for the noon committee meetings, and for staff who have to attend those meetings followed by the regular meetings.

Under the new structure, information presented to the committees would instead be presented to the full Board during B day meetings.

The four standing committees have been paused since early this year while staff drafted the new meeting structure.

Andrew Spence, the county’s head of public information, said staff looked at how “more than 25” other jurisdictions conduct their meetings.

Some members of the public on Tuesday expressed concern at the fact that the new meeting structure appeared to limit the number of opportunities given for public comment.

Board members said that was “never” their intent and requested that both A and B day meetings include time for public comment.

Board members also asked that all meetings start at 5 p.m., for consistency and to give citizens who commute to work time to get back to Stafford for public comment, which would begin at 6:30 p.m. on B days and would follow the consent agenda and proclamations on A days.

Also, following a request from Aquia representative Monica Gary, the Board asked that both A and B day meetings include opportunities for Board members to make comments.

Staff will return in June with a proposal incorporating supervisors’ requested changes and additions, and the new meeting structure will go into effect in August.

Griffis-Widewater representative Tinesha Allen said the new meeting structure will be more transparent. Committee meetings are not livestreamed, so members of the community who wish to know what is discussed either have to be physically present or listen to an audio recording.

“Now you will get to see from Day 1 what we see,” Allen said.

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