Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Governance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning Commission elects Denise Flatley chair, modifies notice rules and adopts electronic participation policy
Summary
Denise Flatley was elected chair and Mister Palavoda vice chair; commissioners voted to remove a postal-mail requirement for special meeting notices, adopted an electronic participation policy, and directed staff to bring bylaw amendments back for consideration in February, including a proposed requirement to ensure at least one commissioner from each voting district.
At the start of the meeting the planning commission elected Denise Flatley as chair and Mister Palavoda as vice chair for 2026.
During bylaws review staff highlighted a proposed change on page 6 (item 7) to remove a clause that had been drafting the responsibility for notifying property owners for public hearings. Staff explained that notification responsibility currently lies with the applicant/developer and suggested striking that section from the bylaws. One staff speaker said: "...where it says that the secretary notifies the property owners and adjacent property owners regarding applications for public hearings, that's actually the responsibility now of the applicant and the developer. So I just propose that we strike that 1 section." The commission made a motion to amend the bylaws, discussed placement of the new district‑representation language and agreed that final adoption would occur at the next regular meeting (per bylaws procedure requiring consideration at a subsequent meeting).
Commissioners also debated and voted to remove a requirement that special meeting notices be mailed; one commissioner moved to amend the motion to "include that we no longer require postal mail for notification of special meetings, and the notification will be sufficient," and the change carried. The commission discussed combining the electronic participation policy into the bylaws but staff recommended keeping it separate; the commission adopted the electronic participation policy as presented.
Chair Flatley also called attention to scheduling and staff availability for an anticipated joint meeting with the Board of Supervisors and other housekeeping items (meeting schedule adoption and approval of minutes).
Next steps: proposed bylaw language (including the district representation amendment and the staff-proposed strike) will be finalized by staff and considered for adoption at the commission's February meeting.
