At the Chairman’s discretion, a public agenda may be held at the beginning and/ or end of a Regular meeting. A member of the public may address the Board by signing up to speak on Wednesday mornings prior to the start of Regular meetings. Requests should include the requestor’s name, address, phone number and email address, if available, and the topic of their request.
The Chairman of the Board may grant permission to a member of the public audience to address the Board concerning any specific item listed on the agenda.
Comments from the public are generally limited to five minutes. Time limits may be adjusted as necessary. Requests made by a member of the public shall be limited in frequency to no more than one presentation in every other Regular Wednesday meeting.
Special Presentations to the Board Members of the public wishing to address topics that are unusually detailed or complicated, thus requiring longer time for presentation, are urged to make a written request to the County Manager. Such request shall be submitted by the Monday nine days prior to the anticipated Board Meeting date. For more information, please contact Sabrina Young at Sabrina.Young@sedgwick.gov or 660-9393.
Proclamations
Steps for getting a proclamation on an agenda:
1. Unless otherwise approved by the Board of County Commissioners, the requestor must be a person(s) or organization outside the Sedgwick County organization. They must submit a narrative that includes the following items:
- Brief description of the event or cause to be recognized.
- Three to five reasons the event or cause deserves attention; and
- A call to action, explaining how Sedgwick County citizens can support event or cause.
2. The request should be made at least three weeks in advance of the requested commission meeting date to the County Manager's Office at 660-9393 or email Sabrina Young.
3. Once the request is received you will be informed by County staff whether or not your request will be granted.
4. At the requested Board of County Commissioners meeting, the Chairman, the sponsoring Commissioner, or Manager's Office staff will read the proclamation into the record. The requestor or representative of the requesting organization may be in attendance to receive the proclamation or may make arrangements to pick up or have the proclamation delivered after action by the Board in open meeting.
5. The Board of County Commissioners reserves the right to decline any request for a proclamation or to make exception to the guidelines. The Board retains the right to limit the number of proclamations at a Commission Meeting.
View our entire Proclamation Policy approved by the Board of County Commissioners on April 6, 2016.
Resolutions
In fulfilling its legislative responsibilities, the Board of Sedgwick County Commissioners considers resolutions, which are equivalent to "bills" in the United States Congress and the Kansas Legislature and to ordinances considered by municipal governing councils. A resolution generally originates at the request of a commissioner, another elected official, the county manager or a department director. Resolutions are drafted by the Sedgwick County Counselor's Office.
Before voting on a proposed resolution, it is discussed by the board at the meeting. Any citizen may appear before the board to speak, up to five minutes, either in favor of or in opposition to the resolution. Following discussion, the board votes on the resolution. Adoption of an ORDINARY resolution requires a majority (three or more) "yes" votes from the board. Resolutions become effective on passage or upon publication, if required. If there is a state law on a subject that applies to a particular county, but the law does not apply to all counties uniformly, a CHARTER resolution is necessary in dealing with that subject. A charter resolution requires four yes votes and is subject to a protest petition. If a protest petition is filed, then the matter must go before a vote of the people.