Despite staff's urging, Madison commissioners vote to maintain second Tuesday schedule

MARSHALL - While two aspects of the then-current Madison County Board of Commissioners went to a vote, the board voted to maintain its current structure in both cases.

The board unanimously approved to maintain Matt Wechtel and Michael Garrison as chair and vice chair, respectively.

The board also voted to maintain meeting on the second Tuesday of the month beginning in 2024, rather than change its meeting date to the third Tuesday of the month.

Madison County Manager Rod Honeycutt said the move to the third Tuesday would allow the county commissioners to assess end-of-month data — including tax and finance — from the previous month in all 12 of the scheduled meetings, whereas the previous month's data would only be available in two of the 12 months by the second Tuesday of the month.

"Meeting the third week of the month would have all 12 months' data without a lag in time," Honeycutt said, adding that the driving factor behind the proposed change was tax data and finance data.

Vice Chair Michael Garrison said he felt the data lag issue should have been brought before the board earlier in the year rather than on the last regular scheduled meeting in the calendar year.

"Number one is, why are we having this discussion now? Why didn't we have this discussion months ago?" Garrison said. "Why are we bringing it up before this group of people at a time when we should have had this ironed out long before Friday, when I got this packet?

"The second thing is, I'm always careful about switching days. The Board of Adjustment is having a situation now, as far as upcoming meetings, they're determined to keep them on a particular set date and location because when you start changing locations or dates, people get a little bit suspicious about that process."

Garrison also stressed that he felt the board would benefit from receiving data about upcoming agenda items earlier than the typical Friday afternoon before a Tuesday meeting.

But Tax Administrator Diana Norton said tax data reports cannot be generated until the first of the month.

"So, if that first day of the month is on a Friday, it's going to be Monday or Tuesday before those reports are finished, completed and sent to Mandy," Norton said.

Mandy Bradley serves as an assistant to the county manager.

"I think what the tax assessor is trying to say is that if she doesn't get those reports to the county manager's office until Monday or Tuesday, there's no way you'd be able to receive your packets earlier than Friday because it takes that long to put the information all together, to get the review of the county manager in, and of course lead a review prior to you receiving those reports and the additional information contained in your packet."

Finance Officer Kary Ledford said her process is similar to that of Norton.

"On the first day of each month, I know exactly what our expense has been for that month, but it takes sometimes up to 14 days to get all the revenue in and accounted for," Ledford said. "So, most times when I give the information to the county managers for your packets, the revenue is not up to the exact date. It's what I have at the time of submission to the county.

"So, that extra three or four days can help facilitate, and then as well give you guys extra time to look over your packets."

Garrison asked whether the lack of real-time data had been a problem in the past.

"It just makes me uncomfortable when I stand and say, 'Here are your revenues for the month' and I know that there still are are not some within those numbers," Ledford said. "The expenses are always OK, so that makes me feel better because that I think is what I'm more concerned about, is what's being spent than what's actually come in at that time. But it's uncomfortable to say these are what they are, knowing that is not necessarily the case."

Board Attorney Donny Laws said he has served with the board since April 2013, and the Board of Commissioners has met on the second Tuesday of the month throughout his tenure.

Bradley said her biggest concern was alleviating the board members feeling as if they're being rushed on a vote.

"Instead, the board can have the most precise, up to date information in order to make the best informed decisions that you possibly can make," Bradley said. "That was kind of my direction with it."

The motion to maintain the second Tuesday schedule was made by Wechtel and seconded by Commissioner Jeremy Hensley.

"I mean I'm going on eight years or so on this board now," Wechtel said. "I've rarely felt rushed that I couldn't make what I felt was an informed decision on anything that's come up. I feel like we have the ability to, if we don't have the ability to put in the proper amount of time we need to resolve a concern about an item that we've got, we always have the ability to table that item for a month, or table it and send it to a work session if we have to.

"For me personally, the timing is not a motivating factor."

Hensley said either way was fine with him.

"It's hard to plan out a whole year anyway, of meetings," Hensley said. "Whatever makes it easiest on staff, I guess, that's what I'm for."

Garrison said the issue was one worth revisiting.

"It's definitely something maybe at a later date we can have more discussion with the staff about, as far as alleviating any concerns and time crunches," Garrison said.

The board chair said he agreed.

"I'm not opposed to changing it in the future if it works out better for everybody," Wechtel said. "I have no problem with taking it up for additional consideration at a later time."

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Despite staff's urging, commission votes to maintain meeting schedule