College approves comment guidelines; The rules will affect citizens wishing to address the board at meetings

The Fort Scott Community College Board of Trustees, during their regular monthly meeting on Monday, approved with modifications a set of guidelines concerning public comments at board meetings and how the board interacts with the public during gatherings.

According to information from FSCC, college officials have designed a structured format whereby constituents of the Board of Trustees can provide information or make comment about items of public interest.

"These are typically good practice-type protocols that most institutions are going to have in place anyway," FSCC President Clayton Tatro said.

Tatro said the idea to implement the proposed guidelines stems from public comments on certain issues made at board meetings in recent months, and the fact that the board didn't previously have a written procedure in place concerning public comments at meetings and "how best to interact" with the public.

"A couple of items have drawn comment from the public ... We thought it best to propose protocol," he said. "We didn't have anything in place on how the board should interact with the public during meetings. We haven't had any approved protocol."

Tatro added, "Public comment at the last two to three meetings has made it clear to us we need to have some structure in place ... It makes sense to the board."

The guidelines will immediately become policy, Tatro said. Those wishing to address the board must also fill out a form, which asks if the speaker has tried to resolve their concern or channel their announcement through one of the college administrators. It also asks if the speaker has made a public comment about the matter at a previous board of trustees meeting and asks for a brief description of the comment. It will specify the speaker has three minutes to address the board.

Guidelines include:

* The board meeting agenda provides an opportunity for members of the public to address the board; however, the board suggests that most announcements, problems or requests be channeled through the college's administration. If the citizen feels the item cannot be handled properly by the administration, the board suggests that the board chair be consulted in advance of the meeting. The chair can then offer advice on how best to proceed. The word chair on this point replaced the word trustee.

* Members of the public wishing to make a comment at a board meeting may request permission to do so during the public comment portion of the agenda. Such permission should be requested by filling out a request form by noon on the day of the board meeting. Forms will be presented to the board chairman for consideration. Generally, matters that are personal in nature or relate to personnel matters will not be heard publicly. The chairman also has a responsibility to discourage abusive or redundant comments. The board approved adding if an appropriate request is not made in advance, the chair has the discretion to hear from individuals present at the meeting.

* When recognized for public comment, citizens should restrict comments to no more than three minutes. If several citizens desire to make comment about the same topic, the board chairman may require that the citizens choose a spokesperson to speak on behalf of all.

* The board meetings operate according to an agenda that is developed in advance. Only items specifically placed on the agenda will be acted upon or discussed. Items or questions presented as "public comment" will not be discussed by the board. Occasionally, for reasons of expediency, the board chairman may respond or answer a question raised; but, as a rule, there will be no action or discussion of public comment items. Generally, the board chairman will respond to public comment by saying, "Thank you for your comments."

* The public comment portion of the meeting agenda is not intended for use by employees and students of the college. The board has clearly-developed policies for the handling of employee and student concerns, proposals, grievances, student discipline, and other matters of internal college affairs. In these instances, the board serves as the appeal board and will, therefore, not become involved until all internal procedures for addressing a specific situation have been exhausted.

The board also:

* Heard a report from Terry Sercer, local CPA, regarding financial statements and the independent auditors' report. Sercer presented his findings from the recent audit to the board, which hears an annual report on the audit each year.

* Heard a report from Aflac representative Kelly Peterson on possible additions to approved Section 125 Providers.

* Approved an agreement for the Solutions for Out-of-School Youth Consortium Incentive Grant. FSCC provides technical assistance and other professional support services to contracted states to assist the grant. Massachusetts must renew their annual contract with FSCC for $12,705.

* Approved the separations of Katrina Goodridge, records analyst, effective Jan. 18, 2011, and Kevin Swope, instructor, effective May 20, 2011; the addition of Crystal Phillips as temporary custodian, effective Jan. 12, 2011; and the transfer of Jodi Murrow from office manager of student support services to records analyst, effective Jan. 17, 2011.

* Heard the president's report, which included figures on four-year transfers of student athletes from 2007-2010. As of Monday, 102 students have transferred from FSCC to four-year institutions and 57 of those are Kansans. The report was submitted by football coach Jeff Sims.

* Conducted Tatro's evaluation in executive session.