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Board adopts rewritten advisory‑committee policy with new application and ethics requirements
Summary
After staff rewrote and legal-reviewed the county’s advisory committee policy, the Board of Commissioners adopted the new policy June 16; it standardizes applications, sets term cycles, requires ethics acknowledgement/training, and assigns oversight to the manager’s office.
The Chatham County Board of Commissioners adopted a comprehensive rewrite of the county advisory‑committee policy on June 16 that standardizes application procedures, clarifies membership terms, codifies staff roles, and requires ethics acknowledgements and training for committee members.
Brenton Hart, staff lead for the rewrite, told the board the policy consolidates numerous prior practices into a single document, adds a formal committee formation/dissolution process, and requires a standard application for new appointments and reappointments. Among the operational changes: terms will run March 1 through February 28 on a three‑year cycle; committees must have an odd number of members; vacancies will not be counted toward quorum; committees will be required to have assigned staff leads; and the county manager’s office will oversee administration, rosters and record retention.
The rewritten policy includes several items flagged for board guidance: a timeline for commissioner recommendations (the draft asks commissioners to submit recommendations within a specified window before term expiration or the board may fill the vacancy), optional hybrid meeting authority consistent with open‑meetings law, and a requirement that committee members complete an ethics acknowledgement and training within 90 days of appointment. Staff also said it will return with an implementation plan detailing updated applications, onboarding materials, and a communications roll‑out for current committee members and staff leads.
Attachment A was updated in the draft to align committee sizes with the new 5–11 member policy; staff recommended adjusting the Library Advisory Committee (6→7 members) and Recreation Advisory Committee (10→9 members) to conform to the odd‑number requirement. Commissioners adopted the policy and directed staff to present an implementation timeline.
