Was this month’s two-meetings discussion by the Gilmer BOC a case for the internet?This month’s discussion of adding a second BOC meeting to the county’s calendar brought up the issue of the limitations of the legal organ’s print method of publishing, perhaps making a case for the advantages of digital over print media.

The Gilmer county board of commissioners voted to add a second workshop to its monthly calendar during its July 11th meeting.
The workshop will be added to the county’s existing calendar, consisting of one workshop and one meeting.

During this month’s meeting, one of the agenda items asked for a vote adding a second regular meeting. Post One Commissioner Randy Bell explained the situation.

“We’re down to one meeting a month,”

Bell said.

“This (item)is basically to reinstate our previous practice of two meetings a month.”

In the workshop and meeting, Post Two Commissioner Danny Hall pressed Commission Chair JC Sanford to restore the second regular meeting to its monthly schedule. Sanford, though, opposed the measure, calling it a mistake.

“You have to advertise at least one full week ahead of time in order to hold a meeting. And that means…(we’d have to create) the next agenda before we ever got to this one and it is a nightmare and it takes you away from finishing all those things you need to be doing. You don’t have time to do anything else except set an agenda. You don’t have time to work on these items you put on an agenda,”

Sanford said. County Attorney David Clark underscored the point, that the real issue is the limited publication cycle of the legal organ, which publishes only once a week on Wednesday online and Thursday in print.

“I don’t think it’s the frequency of the meetings; it’s the creation of the agenda,”

Clarke said. Explaining Sanford’s point, Clark went on to say the board will have to set the agenda for the second meeting before it even conducts the first meeting.

Hall said the reason he wants to go back to two meetings a month is due to the number of items on the once-a-month meeting agenda. For instance, July’s agenda was comprised of 16 items. In order to address these items, workshops tend to run two to three hours. As such, the board still does not have enough time to address all items. Hall laments that even with excessively long workshops several agenda items still fall by the way-side, postponed for the next meeting or tabled till a sometimes much later date.

Based on the discussion, the specific issue, though, is the time constraints of coordinating the advertising requirements with the legal organ. According to the latest revisions to Georgia’s sunshine laws, the county must advertise each meeting and corresponding agenda one week prior to a public meeting. Sanford suggests this requirement pressures the board to spend valuable time compiling two agendas, taking time away from addressing the items on the agenda. However, advertising by way of internet could alleviate this pressure. Using the internet, the board would not have to wait for the once-a-week deadline, publishing it as soon as it creates an agenda. Hall’s argument was that too many items are listed on one agenda. The board could divide the items, placing half of them on the agenda for the first meeting and the second half on the second meeting, all of which could be posted in ample time on the internet.

During the meeting, Clark recommended the board try first adding an additional workshop, since most items are discussed in detail during workshops. He continued, saying if the additional workshop is successful, then the board could add another full meeting.

Commissioners Danny Hall and Randy Bell voted to add another workshop; Sanford voted against. Currently, the board meets on the second Thursday of the month, with a workshop at 2pm and regular meeting at 6pm. The new, second workshop will be held on the fourth Thursday of the month at 2pm.