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Commissioners schedule committee meeting to review opioid settlement advisory council bylaws after debate over voting membership
Summary
The Wright County Board voted to convene a committee of the whole on Feb. 3 to review proposed bylaws for the opioid settlement advisory council after commissioners debated whether appointed council members should have voting rights; staff said either approach could be implemented but noted it would delay the RFP timeline by about a month.
The Wright County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 20 agreed to hold a committee-of-the-whole meeting at 10 a.m. on Feb. 3 to review proposed bylaws for the county’s opioid settlement advisory council, after a substantive discussion about whether appointed members should hold votes on that advisory body.
Commissioner Mo raised concerns that appointing nonvoting members could allow the advisory council to bring recommendations to the county board that the commissioners who sat on the advisory body did not support. “I don’t want to have a situation… where recommendations come forward that the board members that sat on there didn’t support,” Commissioner Mo said, urging that appointees be voting members so recommendations arrive with the support of those who vetted them.
Sarah (staff), who had worked with Commissioner Moina and Commissioner Holland on draft bylaws, told the board the issue could be changed and that the draft had been discussed with committee representatives. She said allowing the members to vote at the committee level as well as at the full board was an acceptable approach if the board preferred it, but that holding additional review would delay the timeline for issuing a request for proposals (RFP) by roughly a month.
Commissioner Shane and others said they preferred not to delay the process and suggested resolving the voting question in the committee meeting rather than pushing the item into March. After discussion and a motion to schedule a committee of the whole, the board set Feb. 3 at 10:00 a.m. for that review and directed staff to post a room and agenda.
Why it matters: The bylaws will govern how the county’s opioid settlement funds are overseen, including whether community appointees participate as voting members—an issue commissioners said affects accountability and the practical ability of the advisory body to bring forward recommendations the board will support. Next steps: staff will finalize and publish meeting materials for the Feb. 3 committee meeting so commissioners and stakeholders can review the proposed bylaws.
