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Board discusses allowing staff voting to prevent grants committees from stalling
Summary
Commissioners reviewed proposed bylaw language to allow designated staff to cast votes when grant advisory committees lack a quorum due to recusals or absences; board signaled general support and asked staff to clean up template language for future review.
Klamath County commissioners reviewed a proposed amendment to grants‑advisory committee bylaws that would allow designated staff to vote when committees lack a quorum because members must recuse themselves or cannot attend.
Staff said small community committees frequently face recusals (for example when a committee member applies for a grant) or simple nonattendance, and the county has delayed decisions multiple times in recent months. The proposed template language would limit the change to grant‑ and funding‑related advisory committees (tourism, economic development and similar bodies) and would not alter permanent committee composition but would permit a designated finance or staff designee to cast a voting seat to avoid long postponements.
Commissioners requested edits for clarity (including a consistent description of committee membership numbers and a note that the staff voter is not a permanent committee member). The board did not adopt a specific bylaw change during the meeting; rather, they said staff should revise the draft bylaws for further review and circulate the cleaned template through county divisions.
The chair asked staff to ensure the template specifies which committees would use the provision and to avoid changing stated committee sizes in the charter language. The board emphasized that the proposal concerns only grant/funding advisory committees and not general county boards.
Staff will return a revised template for formal consideration after legal and division review.
