Administrative and Procedural Rules for Board Proceedings

The incumbent supervisor should be reappointed unless that supervisor provides notification to the chairman that his/her option for reappointment will not be exercised, except that appointments to the Kern County Children and Families Commission (First 5 Kern) shall rotate among Board members annually. (Rev. 4/07; 12/16/08) 2. In the event that the incumbent supervisor has relinquished his/her right to reappointment, the most senior supervisor requesting to serve on the committee, commission or board should be appointed. (Rev. 12/16/08) 3. Should the chairman choose to deviate from the recommended procedure provided for in paragraphs 1 and 2 above, a majority vote of the Board is required to confirm the appointment. (Rev. 12/16/08) G. The chairman is required to place his/her signature on file with the Secretary of State. The necessary documents to effect this requirement shall be prepared by the Clerk of the Board. H. The chairman is responsible for signing all documents as authorized by the Board. Whenever a wet signature is not legally required, the Clerk of the Board may, at the chairman’s request, use a signature stamp. RULE 3: MEETINGS A. The scheduling of Board meetings is done by resolution pursuant to Ordinance Code section 2.04.010. Unless a majority of the Board of Supervisors determines otherwise, regular meetings of the Board shall begin at 9:00 a.m. each Tuesday. B. All regular meetings of the Board may be convened simultaneously as a meeting of the Board of Supervisors and the governing boards of the various special districts and other entities that have business to be conducted. Administrative And Procedural Rules For The Proceedings Of The Board Of Supervisors C. County staff making a presentation or report to the Board during its regular session shall wear appropriate professional attire. (Rev. 12/16/08) RULE 4: ORDER OF BUSINESS A. The Board shall conduct its meetings in the following order: 1. Roll Call 2. Flag Salute and Moment of Silence or Prayer—AM Meeting 3. Consent Agenda 4. Regular Agenda a. Resolutions and Proclamations b. Public Requests c. Appointments d. Public Presentations e. Board Member Announcements or Reports f. Departmental Requests and Scheduled Hearings 5. Closed Session (if needed) 6. Consideration of Introduced Ordinances—PM Meeting 7. Matters for Executive Approval—PM Meeting a. Budget Transfers b. Minutes for the three-weeks preceding Board meeting c. Miscellaneous Letters and Documents for filing d. Miscellaneous Department referrals by Clerk of the Board e. Claims and Lawsuits filed with and referred by Clerk of the Board 8. Adjournment B. The Board may consider matters not on the agenda under the public presentation and Board member comment section to the extent permitted by the Brown Act. The only action that may be taken on these items is to receive and file documents related to the matter, ask questions of staff or the public, make a brief announcement or report on the activities of a supervisor, refer a matter to staff, or place a matter of business on a future agenda. The Board may also consider action on items not appearing on the agenda pursuant to the provisions of Government Code section 54954.2. RULE 5: MEETING DECORUM A. Limitations on Time In the interests of facilitating the business of the Board, the chairman, in the exercise of reasonable discretion, may: 1. Limit the time that each person may use in addressing the Board. Administrative And Procedural Rules For The Proceedings Of The Board Of Supervisors 2. Limit the total time in which to receive testimony from members of the public on an individual matter, item or subject before the Board. Any limitation on the time that a person may be provided to address the Board will be consistent with any due process requirements and/or other legal requirements related to the matter or item. (Rev. 01/08) B. Presentations of Resolutions, Proclamations, or Other Recognition The chairman will select a member of the Board to present awards, resolutions, proclamations and/or other such recognitions. Such selection shall be made, in order of priority, as follows: 1. The Board member requesting the resolution or recognition.

The Board member in whose district the individual receiving the resolution or recognition resides, or if presented to a group of people, the supervisor in whose district the activity or action being awarded took place.

The Board member who is active in the organization or is active in the advocacy of the organization or the subject activities / endeavors of the organization being presented the resolution or recognition.

If none of the above situations exists, at the discretion of the chairman. C. Request for Continuance 1. If an item before the Board affects only one district, then upon the request of the supervisor representing that district, the Board shall approve a continuance of at least one week, unless time does not permit such continuance.

A poll of the Board vote is conducted.

The Clerk of the Board announces the voting results. RULE 9: PROCEDURE FOR HEARING – GENERAL A. The order of procedure for general hearings before the Board is: Administrative And Procedural Rules For The Proceedings Of The Board Of Supervisors 1. The chairman calls the agenda item by subject or title. For appeal hearings, the chairman announces the scope of hearing.

The chairman closes the public testimony phase of hearing.

Staff clarifies or modifies its recommendation, as appropriate.

The Board determines whether to decide the matter, decide the matter subject to preparation of appropriate findings, or continue the matter, in which case paragraphs 10 and 11 below shall not apply.

Any required environmental determination is made, including findings.

A motion for disposition is made, discussion of the motion is held and the Board takes action. Such motions shall include the receipt and filing of any documents offered as evidence and filed with the Clerk of the Board prior to and during the hearing upon recognition by the Chairman. B. The chairman may alter the foregoing order of procedure, as circumstances require. C. A supervisor may ask a question of any person at any time during a hearing upon recognition by the chairman. RULE 10: DOCUMENTARY AND PHYSICAL EVIDENCE A. Letters, petitions and written, printed or photographic materials and other physical evidence intended to be used as evidence before the Board shall be filed with the Clerk of the Board prior to the time of the hearing, or presented to the Board at the hearing. B. The Clerk of the Board shall cause each piece of such evidence received by the Board to be adequately identified and shall include such evidence in the Clerk’s file of the matter under consideration by the Board. C. Documents or things offered as evidence but not admitted by the Board shall be returned by the Clerk to the offering person, if known, unless not feasible to do so. Administrative And Procedural Rules For The Proceedings Of The Board Of Supervisors D. This rule does not apply to technical and other documents kept as public records by any county department, officer or employee in the ordinary conduct of county business. Such documents may be included in the record by reference. RULE 11: PROCEDURES FOR BUDGET HEARINGS A. General 1. The County Administrative Officer’s recommended budget will be presented by individual budget unit.

The Board will consider and vote on the recommended expenditure budget unit. RULE 12: TESTIMONY When any person desires to address the Board, the chairman, upon recognition of the person, shall request that the person step to the podium, give his or her name and make a presentation in an audible voice. The chairman may specify a time limit for the presentation. RULE 13: VOTING A. General Each supervisor shall vote on matters before it through use of the electronic polling board. The Clerk of the Board shall verbally announce the number of absetentions and absences immediately following the vote. B. Majority Vote Requirements Except as provided in “C” below, the Board may approve or deny actions by three affirmative votes. C. Four-Fifths Vote Requirements Administrative And Procedural Rules For The Proceedings Of The Board Of Supervisors State law and local ordinance require the approval of certain items by four or more votes. Listed below are items likely to appear on the Board’s agenda, which require four or more votes. (This list is not complete.) 1. Transfer from appropriations for contingencies. (Gov. Code Sec. 29130) 2. Appropriation of unanticipated revenues. (Gov. Code Sec. 29130) 3. Appropriations for an emergency. (Gov. Code Sec. 29127) 4. Adoption of the County budget. (Ord. Code Sec. 4.04.010) 5. Non-Agenda Items: For consideration of a non-agenda item, the Board must make findings that the need to take action arose after the agenda was posted. The vote on the finding requires at least four votes if five members are present; three votes if four are present and three votes if three are present. (Gov. Code Sec. 54954.29) (2)) 6. Adoption of an ordinance as an urgency matter. (Gov. Code Sec. 25123) 7. Assignment of delinquent accounts to a collection agency. (Gov. Code Sec. 26220) 8. Improvement of County roads through use of general fund monies. (Sts. & Hwys. Code Sec. 1070) 9. Cooperation with cities in road work. (Sts. & Hwys. Code Sec. 1680) 10. Adoption of Resolution of Intention to sell or lease County property. (Gov. Code 25526) 11. Resolution of necessity to institute condemnation proceedings. (Code of Civ. Proc. Sec. 1245.240) 12. Conveyance or exchange of County property to another governmental agency. (Gov. Code Sec. 25365) 13. Employment of counsel to assist the district attorney, county counsel or other counsel for the County. (Gov. Code Sec. 25203) 14. Resolution negating public bidding. (Pub. Contract Code Sec. 20150.10) 15. Construction contract change orders greater than $6,500 but less than 10% of the original contract amount. (Pub. Contract Code Sec. 20137) 16. Changes to supervisorial district boundaries. (Ord. Code 2.06.010) (Rev. 01/08) D. Abstentions 1. Consent Items. For items on the consent agenda, the supervisor may complete the Board Abstention form, Exhibit “A” to these rules, announced publicly the nature of the conflict during the consideration of the consent agenda and provide the form to the Clerk of the Board to retain in the official records. The supervisor may vote on the consent agenda and the Clerk of the Board shall record the abstention for only the item(s) designated on the form. (Rev. 12/09) Administrative And Procedural Rules For The Proceedings Of The Board Of Supervisors 2. Nonconsent items. An abstention from voting on the merits of any matter shall be announced audibly. The supervisor shall state the reason for the abstention and leave the room, if required by law. Any supervisor who so abstains shall be recorded as voting “abstain”. E. Tie Vote Except for actions requiring an approval by more than a simple majority vote, if the Board vote is a tie vote, that vote shall constitute denial of the request or appeal. RULE 14: RECORDATION OF PROCEEDINGS A. The Clerk of the Board shall cause a magnetic or other mechanically-produced recording to be made of each public meeting of the Board. B. The failure of the Clerk to discharge this duty or the inability to produce or maintain such a recording due to failure of equipment or destruction of the recording shall not be grounds to invalidate or challenge any preceding before, or any action taken by, the Board. RULE 15: ABSENCE FROM HEARING A. A supervisor who was absent from all or part of a hearing, where the Board is acting in a judicial or quasi-judicial capacity, may vote on the matter heard if the supervisor states that he or she has reviewed all evidence received during the absence and has also listened to the Clerk’s recording or read a true and complete transcript of the proceedings that occurred during the absence. If the Board is acting in a legislative of quasi-legislative capacity, then a supervisor may vote on the matter even though he or she missed all or part of the discussion or public hearing. B. To facilitate the timely placement of matters requiring a 4/5 vote on the Board’s agenda, supervisors shall notify the Clerk of the Board of impending absences as far in advance as possible, but no later than two weeks in advance of the regularly scheduled meeting, barring an emergency. RULE 16: ACTIONS OF THE BOARD All actions of the Board on the merits of any matter before it shall be taken by ordinance, resolution, or Summary of Proceedings. RULE 17: DISQUALIFICATION A. A supervisor shall disqualify himself or herself from making, participating in the making, or influencing any decision when so required by the County Conflict of Interest Code or State Law. If disqualification of supervisors due to a conflict of interest results in less than a quorum of the Board available to act, by random draw, a sufficient number of members to constitute a quorum will be selected in order to take action on any item consistent with the rules and regulations of the Fair Political Practices Commission or other applicable state law. B. Due process considerations with respect to Board actions, which are judicial or quasi-judicial, require that a supervisor hears a matter with an open mind and is not committed to a certain decision or position prior to hearing and will consider all the evidence. Accordingly, a supervisor shall disqualify himself or herself from making or participating in the making of any decision on a matter on which the supervisor has testified orally or in writing or intends to testify orally or in writing in support of or in opposition to the matter before any body whose decision may be appealed to the Board. Administrative And Procedural Rules For The Proceedings Of The Board Of Supervisors C. A disqualified supervisor shall leave the meeting whenever the item related to the disqualification is being considered by the Board. RULE 18: REFERRALS TO DEPARTMENTS A. Preliminary staff work, such as introductory research, on an issue for an individual supervisor may be performed by a County department, but extensive staff work, such as the preparation of reports, ordinances, and like items, shall only be carried out after approval by the Board in open session and referral to the County department(s) to undertake such work. B. The following procedure shall be followed for referring an item to staff for new or additional research and presentation of a recommendation.