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Trustees deadlock on revised meeting calendar; Option 2 fails and board asks for more stakeholder input
Summary
Trustees debated two calendar options for 2025–26 and failed to adopt the twice-a-month option (Option 2). Trustees who voted no said the committee lacked broad stakeholder input; other trustees cited data on historic public-comment volumes and staff costs. Board directed staff to return with additional calendars and cost data.
Trustees at Twin Rivers Unified spent extensive time discussing changes to the 2025–26 board meeting calendar after the board moved agenda item M5 to the front of Tuesday’s meeting.
A three-member committee (Trustees Bastian, Bridal and one other) presented two draft calendars. Option 1 was largely monthly with two meetings in June; Option 2 scheduled twice in January and twice in June and shifted one February date. Trustee Bastian moved to accept Option 2; Trustee Baker seconded for purposes of discussion.
Trustees raised two central concerns in the debate: (1) whether the committee had gathered representative stakeholder input across the district and (2) the cost and staffing implications of adding a second meeting each month. Several trustees—including Trustee (identified in the record as) Rachel and Trustee Baker—said they had solicited input from their communities and argued the committee’s recommendations reflected those conversations. Others—including Trustee (identified in the record as) Sasha and Trustee Boyd—said many stakeholders had asked for more frequent meetings to enhance oversight and transparency and that the committee did not adequately represent both sides of the district.
The board took a roll-call vote on Option 2; the motion did not carry. After the vote, trustees directed staff to return with a revised calendar that includes an option for two meetings per month and to provide additional data: cost estimates for added meetings (staffing and operations), historical counts of public comment and virtual participation when the board previously met twice monthly, and options to place placeholder or 'ghost' meetings on the calendar.
Trustees also discussed changes to the public-comment policy (extending time for district-employee organizations and associations) and asked staff to propose amended language for a future board vote. Several trustees urged that the committee be reconvened and reconstituted to include representation from the other side of the district.
The calendar will return for a vote at a subsequent meeting; trustees asked staff for a quick turnaround on the requested data ahead of the next meeting date.
