Board of Trustees

The public participation portion of the meeting is limited to 15 minutes, but an exception may be made at the discretion of the Board President, if necessary so that no one’s right to address the board will be denied.

Each person will be allowed to speak for up to 3 minutes, except where the number of speakers exceeds the time limit. In those instances, the President of the Board of Trustees may either reduce the 3-minute limit to a 2-minute limit for each speaker or the Board of Trustees may waive the 15-minute time limit.

Each person wishing to address the Board of Trustees must identify himself or herself by name and address. If the person is representing an organization or group, the person shall indicate whether the comments or presentation represents the official view of the organization or group.

If a delegation is present to address the board, the delegation may select up to five spokespersons to speak on its behalf, for a total of not more than 5 minutes.

All written statements should be given to the Secretary of the Board of Trustees, so that copies may be made available to members of the board. All written statements and documents presented by an individual or group to the Board of Trustees during the meeting are considered public documents.

Individuals addressing the board should take into consideration the rules of common courtesy. The public participation portion of the meeting cannot be used to make personal attacks against a library board member or library employee, which are totally unrelated to the manner in which the member or employee performs his or her duties. If the comments constitute a complaint against a board member or employee, the member or employee about whom the complaint is registered, has the right to request an executive, closed session of the board and to be present at that session.

Board of Trustees members may question speakers, but are not obligated to answer questions or make statements or commitments in response to issues raised by the public. In general, such issues will be referred to the Library Director for investigation, study, and recommendation or designated as future agenda items for Board of Trustees’ consideration.