Meeting Procedures

The Chairperson shall preside over meetings of the Board.  In the absence of the Chairperson, the Vice Chairperson shall act as presiding officer.  In the absence of the Chairperson and the Vice Chairperson, the Chairperson or the Chief Executive Officer shall assign a member to serve as Acting Chair for that one meeting.

The Chairperson’s duties include calling a meeting to order, determining when to proceed to the next agenda item, recognizing motions, calling for the vote on motions, keeping order during the meeting, declaring recesses, and adjourning the meeting.  The Chairperson may take agenda items out of order and may choose to completely forgo any agenda item.  Whenever a matter before the Board is deferred for further discussion, the Chairperson may assign the matter to an appropriate committee, schedule the matter for further consideration at a future meeting of the Board, direct FTF staff with respect to the matter or take other appropriate action.  The Chairperson may also delegate to the chair of each respective committee the responsibility for chairing discussion of items presented to the Board by that committee.

The procedures described in this Policy are meant to be informal and applied with common sense.  If a difficult or unusual procedural matter arises, the Chairperson has authority to determine how to best handle it.

Consent Agendas

Routine matters may be grouped together and decided by the Board without discussion or debate.  Such matters shall be designated as “Consent Agenda” items.  Any member of the Board may request discussion or debate on any individual item listed as a Consent Agenda item, and the matter shall be considered and decided separately at such time in the meeting as may be directed by the Chairperson.

When updates, reports, first reads or other matters that do not require action are included as Consent Agenda items for informational purposes, the Board’s approval of the items on the Consent Agenda will be treated as acceptance of the included updates, reports, first reads and other matters that did not require action.  

Motions

The standard procedure for taking legal action is as follows.  A member makes a motion and another member seconds the motion.  Motions are directed to the Chairperson.  The Chairperson then provides an opportunity for discussion.  Finally, the Chairperson calls for a vote on the motion.  Only appointed members can make, second and vote on motions.

A member may make a motion by fully stating the motion.  In order to move the meeting along, the Chairperson may also call for a motion by stating something to the effect of “I’d like to call for a motion to” or “Do I have a motion to” and then fully stating the desired action.  When the Chairperson calls for a motion, a member can then make the called for motion by declaring “so moved” or using language with similar effect.  The Chairperson may also make or second motions, though the exercise of this ability should be used sparingly and judiciously.

A member making a motion may withdraw or amend the motion before the vote is taken.  Members who did not make the motion may request amendments, and the member who made the original motion decides whether to revise the motion to include the requested amendment.  If the motion is amended, the amended motion replaces the original motion and should receive a new “second.” 

In the event the Board determines that a motion adopted earlier in the same meeting (which is now considered a resolution) should be revised, a new motion may be made to revise or amend the resolution.  This new motion would be subject to the standard procedure for taking legal action described above.  

Adopted May 22, 2007
Revised October 3, 2017
Revised February 12, 2019
Revised June 8, 2020