Time

The Otsego County Board of Representatives Rules of Order (Rule #2) says that

Regular meetings of the Board shall be held at 10:00 a.m. on the first Wednesday of each month. All regular and special meetings of the Board shall be held at the Representatives' Chambers in the Village of Cooperstown, New York, except that upon approval of the affirmative weighted vote of at least three-fourths of the total membership of the Board, the time and meeting place of the Board may be changed...

So the time and day and place of the regular monthly meetings are baked into the Rules of Order, which are the Board's bylaws. And it takes three fourths of the board – three fourths! - to make a change.

Our monthly meetings are in the middle of the day, on a weekday (see below). The fact that it takes three fourths of the Board to change this – and nothing else we do is held to such a high standard – suggests something fishy, at least to me. When this rule was established, long ago, it was in someone's interest to make it very, very hard to change the meetings to the evenings, when many more of us can attend and participate. Having the meetings midday, midweek, means that it is much harder for nine-to-fivers to run and serve in the Board, and easier for small business owners, farmers and retired folks to run and serve. Guess which group the perpetual majority party is more likely to be made up of?

Time to move into the 21^st century and embrace diversity and citizen participation. In the January meeting, Andrew Stammel will propose this change to the Rules of Order: that the time, day or place of the regular monthly Board meeting will be established by majority vote.

Majority vote is the way we make the vast majority of our decisions, profound or trivial. If the majority of the Board – this or any future Board – wants a change, they should be able to do it, and not be held hostage by the partisan machinations of long-forgotten members.