Whereas, the County Board plans to have 1 regular meeting and 1 continuation meeting every month with the continuation meeting being held on a Tuesday at 6:30 PM where it may conflict with other civic meetings (both associations and County Committee/Commissions), and

Whereas, the 6:30 start time makes it difficult for people who work to make meetings at this time, (let alone the Tuesday 3PM non-hearing Board agenda with no free parking) and

Whereas, Tuesday meetings will run late as the County Board plans to finish the agenda that night and citizens will not be able to participate due to the lateness of the hour, and

Whereas, other meetings take place on Tuesday, and

Whereas, the new budget and tax rate(s) hearing procedures invite special interest monopolization of time to the detriment of participation by average residents, and

Whereas, to pull and testify on an item from the consent agenda now requires citizens to be present at two meetings,

Be it resolved that the Arlington County Civic Federation recommends that the Arlington County Board continue to

1. Conduct all official County Board meetings on Saturday

2. Continue the current practice where consent items are removed from the consent agenda on the same day they are heard.

3. Consider conducting meetings every second Saturday if it is necessary to keep the agenda to manageable levels.

4. Return to budget and tax rate(s) hearing procedures that promote participation by average residents.

This page was last revised on: January 28, 2005.