Dallas County board adopts meeting rules setting Tuesday meetings, public comment limits

At its Jan. 2 meeting the Dallas County Board of Supervisors approved its 2026 Rules of Procedure, which set the board’s regular session schedule, procedures for agenda submission, public-participation limits and rules for closed sessions.

The rules establish regular meetings generally every Tuesday at 9:00 a.m., require agenda items to be filed with the Board of Supervisors Administrative Coordinator by noon five days before the meeting (with limited exceptions), and direct that board members receive agendas and materials at least 72 hours before regular meetings. The rules adopt Robert's Rules of Order (newly revised, 2000) as the parliamentary authority on matters not covered by the local rules.

Public participation provisions require speakers to state their name and address for the record and generally limit remarks to five minutes, with a ten-minute limit for public hearings; speakers must secure the presiding officer’s permission and avoid personal remarks. The rules set procedures for roll-call votes, abstentions, requests to have statements entered in the minutes, and allow the board to waive rules by affirmative vote.

Closed sessions remain limited to topics specified in Iowa Code Chapter 21; recordings of closed sessions must be preserved by the county auditor for at least one year, and recordings dealing with pending litigation are to be preserved until litigation concludes. The board approved the rules by motion and recorded the adoption in the minutes.