Tulare County Flood Control Commission elects vice chair, defers bylaw adoption

The Tulare County Flood Control Commission on Jan. 15 voted to include Commissioner Eric Quinley as vice chair and reviewed redlined revisions to its bylaws, but deferred any final bylaw adoption until its next regular meeting.

Commissioners moved, seconded and approved a motion to include Commissioner Eric Quinley as vice chair by voice vote; no roll-call vote or individual tallies were read into the record. The presiding officer announced the motion passed and turned the meeting over to the newly seated chair.

The commission spent the bulk of the meeting reviewing a redlined bylaws package prepared for readability and organization, and discussing a handful of substantive changes. County Counsel Jason Barnes said the large redline primarily reorders existing material and improves clarity, though it contains some substantive edits.

"This is mostly just changes to increase readability and make it less confusing," Jason Barnes said while summarizing the redlines.

Substantive provisions called out during discussion include: clarifying that membership is open to residents "within the territorial borders of Tulare County" (not only the unincorporated area); an added ground to replace members for repeated nonattendance; language to permit an alternate meeting location to support Brown Act modernization; and removal of a small compensation clause. Commissioners asked that the bylaws explicitly allow the presiding officer (chair or vice chair) to add items to an agenda; staff agreed to draft that language for the next meeting.

Denise (Resource Management Agency staff) confirmed that none of the proposed changes were tied to active or potential litigation, eliminating the need for a closed session on legal matters.

The commission also confirmed its regular quarterly meeting cadence remains the third Wednesday of January, April, July and October at 8:30 a.m., and instructed staff to add bylaw language authorizing an alternate county office location if the chambers are unavailable. No final vote on the bylaws was taken; commissioners agreed to return with a clean (non-redlined) version at the next meeting for action.

Votes at a glance

- Motion: "Include Eric Quinley as vice chair." Outcome: approved (voice vote). Mover/second: not specified in the record. No recorded roll-call tally; minutes reflect voice "ayes," no oppositions or abstentions heard.

What’s next

Staff will prepare a revised, clean copy of the bylaws incorporating the requested clarifying language on alternate meeting locations and presiding-officer agenda authority, and bring it back for action at the commission’s next regular meeting.