Title
Chief Administrative Office recommending the Board adopt a revised Board of Supervisors Policy A-3, Ordinances - New or Amended Development and Distribution of Board of Supervisors Policies. (Cont. 9/23/14, Item 5)
Body
Fiscal Impact/Change to Net County Cost
No fiscal impact.
Background
On November 5, 2013 (Item 36) the Board approved staff's recommendations for updating and revising the Board of Supervisors Policy Manual and directed staff to continue working on the update project. On June 24, 2014 (Item 62) the Board adopted Policy A-1, Development and Distribution of Board of Supervisors Policies and Policy A-2, Guidelines for Writing Board of Supervisors Policies.
Staff identified Board of Supervisors Policy A-3, Ordinances - New or Amended as the next policy for review and update.
Ordinances are county regulations adopted by the Board of Supervisors which are enforceable by law. Board of Supervisors Policy A-3 was adopted in 1987 to require that all ordinances or ordinance amendments, except for emergency ordinances and minor changes to the zoning ordinance, be presented to the Board of Supervisors for conceptual approval before requesting County Counsel to prepare a draft ordinance or ordinance amendment. The policy also provides brief procedural guidelines to departments for policy compliance.
Reason for Recommendation
The purpose of the proposed revised policy is to set forth a procedure for developing new ordinances or amending existing ordinances, and to provide for maintenance of the ordinance code.
Generally, the proposed revised Board of Supervisors Policy A-3 has been updated to reflect the new policy format and provide clarification regarding documentation that may be required by law to accompany new ordinances or ordinance amendments. Substantive changes include a more streamlined process for conceptual review of minor ordinance amendments and a provision tasking the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors with development of a process to provide for maintenance and review of the code on a regular basis. This policy is recommended for a standard sunset review four years from adoption.
On September 16, 2014 (Item 2) the Board directed staff to make minor changes and additional information relating to the repeal of ordinances.
On September 23, 2014 (Item 5) staff requested additional time consider the updates to the policy. Additional language regarding the repeal of ordinances has been added to the proposed policy in section D, Repeal of Ordinances (highlighted in yellow).
A tracked-change version of the policy is provided as Attachment 3A. Attachment 3B is the final, "clean" draft of the proposed policy. The current policy is provided for reference as Attachment D.
Clerk of the Board Follow Up Actions
Upon adoption of the revised policy, Clerk of the Board shall update the policy document to reflect date of adoption and sunset review date; distribute the policy to County departments; and post the revised policy to the County's website.
Contact
Terri Daly, Chief Administrative Officer
Terri Knowlton, Principal Administrative Analyst
Concurrences
County Counsel