ADDRESSING THE BOARD

Protocol to Request to Address the Board

We encourage your participation in our regularly scheduled Board meetings. To address the Board, please email your request to the Director's Office at addresstheboard@mawss.com. All requests must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on the Tuesday prior to the Board meeting you wish to attend. 
 

Initial Address

When addressing the Board, each speaker shall open by first acknowledging the Board in the following manner:

• Members of the Board, and guests, my name is:
  • Identify him or herself
    State his or her relevant title
    Identify the group or organization (if any) that is being represented
  • Present remarks within three (3) minutes or as established by the Board Chair 

The person shall limit his address to the time limits set by the Chairman. All remarks shall be addressed to the Board as a body and not to any individual member thereof. No person, other than MAWSS staff and the person having the floor, shall be permitted to enter in any discussion either directly or through a member of the Board, without the permission of the presiding officer.

You may from time to time be asked questions by the Board, which you are encouraged to answer to the best of your ability, to aid the Board in better understanding your presentation and the rendering of a fair decision.

Any person making impertinent or slanderous remarks, or who becomes boisterous and disrupts the Board meeting may be immediately removed from the meeting and denied further audience before the Board by the presiding officer. Permission to continue by such person may be granted by a majority vote of the Board members present.
 

Public Comment

For Board meetings other than specially set public hearings, the Board will accept public comment during the Agenda item "Visitors". Each speaker is limited to three (3) minutes, except that one speaker who is speaking on behalf of an organization or governmental agency shall be allowed five (5) minutes.

The Board Chair may reduce the time limit to two (2) minutes per speaker to accommodate more speakers. The Chair may close the public comment period after thirty (30) minutes. Once public comment is closed and the Board moves on to the next Agenda item, the Board will not accept further comments.