Caddo Parish committee weighs stricter meeting decorum, consent agenda and online comment rules; schedules follow-up

President Greg Young urged the committee to review its rules governing meeting conduct and enforcement, saying the group should "lead by example, not just by what we say put on paper, but through our activities." The Personnel Policies & Procedures Committee met May 21 to review the committee's role under bylaw 6.1 and to consider suggested edits to the order of business and public-comment procedures.

The meeting, called to order with a quorum present, centered on two linked concerns: whether the parish should adopt clearer, enforceable rules for both commissioners and the public, and how to reorganize the agenda to improve clarity and efficiency. Staff presented a list of suggested changes including combining minute adoptions, creating a consistent spot for clerk notices and the possible use of a consent agenda for routine items.

"Items that would be eligible for a consent agenda would be special resolutions, resolutions not requiring a public hearing, and introduction of ordinances," said Jeff, a staff member who walked the committee through the proposed order-of-business changes. He said the consent agenda could streamline meetings by bundling items likely to be approved unanimously while preserving the right of any member to pull an item for discussion.

Some members cautioned that a consent agenda could shorten public-facing explanations and reduce transparency. One committee member said they were concerned items could be forwarded to a consent block "without appropriate discussion," and urged that anything placed on consent still receive adequate explanation before approval.

The parish attorney, Diane, advised against conflating zoning public hearings with other ordinance items because zoning matters often carry separate hearing and voting rules. "If you remove that, you're going to need to change your public comment section," Diane said, warning that combining categories could obscure when the public has a formal hearing opportunity and when different voting thresholds apply.

Committee members also debated online public-comment practices after the vice president raised a scenario in which large numbers of online submissions could overload meeting time. "What if we get 50 online public comment cards? We're not gonna read all 50 of them," the vice president said, urging the committee to adopt a framework for how online comments would be handled if the parish chose to accept them. Diane recommended against maintaining an online comment card as part of the meeting record, saying the public should attend to comment and that emails can instead be placed in the record.

After discussion, President Greg Young moved that the committee take the materials presented, answer the questions raised and reconvene in approximately two weeks to continue the review. The motion was accepted; members agreed to hold the follow-up during the committee's next meeting window (discussed as June 1 or June 4). The motion passed by acclamation; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.

Next steps: staff will compile the committee's suggestions and legal cautions, and the committee will reconvene to draft specific bylaw language and procedural changes. Several commissioners emphasized that where legal differences exist (for example, zoning hearings), the record should explicitly note why those items remain separate.