Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Rules Of Procedure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning Board reviews rules of procedure updates and flags public‑notice budget cut
Summary
Board reviewed edits to its rules of procedure (gender‑neutral language, meeting notice timing, records/minutes handling) and learned the planning board's advertising/public‑notice budget line had been zeroed out by the Select Board; staff will follow up with town administration.
The Planning Board reviewed a redraft of its rules of procedure on April 15 that includes routine proofreading and several substantive clarifications: changing "Board of Selectmen" to "Select Board," making officers’ pronouns gender neutral, clarifying that public meeting notices be provided at least 24 hours prior to a meeting, and adding a records provision requiring that draft minutes be revised to reflect approved corrections and shown as approved in the record.
Leanne reported the draft also consolidates order‑of‑business language and aligns application submission language with RSA requirements (the draft replaces a specific numeric day requirement with a reference to RSA 674 submission rules to avoid future mismatches should state law change). The board agreed to remove archaic phrasing and to simplify order‑of‑business headings (consolidating "communications, unfinished business, new business" under "other business").
During the meeting Julie Jacobs and others raised a separate fiscal concern: the line item for planning board public notices and advertising has been zeroed out in the town budget. Board members noted that while applicant‑required public notices are paid by applicants, planning‑funded notices (for example, warrant‑article notices) require a town budget line. Leanne said she has emailed the town administrator to clarify and will follow up.
Board members agreed the rule changes will be read at the meeting and adopted at a later meeting (per the document's procedural requirements); Leanne will add a new adoption date and circulate the revised draft.
