The Lake County Rules Committee on Oct. 10 approved a package of amendments to the County Board Rules of Order and Operational Procedures that change how agendas are approved, clarify remote-attendance notices, set limits on board-member travel or training paid with county funds and authorize a county travel card for board travel — while voting down a proposed routing change that would have sent recommendations from the Independent Ethics Commission to the Finance and Administrative Committee before the full board.

The committee’s action affects several routine but consequential procedures for how the full Lake County Board receives and considers business and staff reports. Committee members debated whether certain changes would improve transparency or needlessly shift decisions away from the committee process.

Why it matters: The changes touch the mechanics of how county business is placed on committee and board agendas and who approves travel and training paid with county funds. Those procedural rules shape which items reach the full board and how quickly, and they establish who signs off on expenditures related to board-member travel. The failed ethics routing change sparked the meeting’s most sustained debate about politics, independence and committee oversight.

What the committee did

- Ethics recommendations routing (Item 8.2): The committee rejected a motion to amend the rules so that “all recommendations from the Independent Ethics Commission for violations of the Ethics and Conduct Code section L, board member conduct are forwarded directly to [the] Lake County Board for action,” instead of first going to the Finance and Administrative (F&A) Committee. Member Kasman, who brought the change forward, said the goal was to “take the politics out of” enforcement and have the independent commission’s recommendations go straight to the full board. Opponents said the current committee step provides an added, deliberative review (and that some enforcement actions, such as removing a member from a committee, must still be acted on by the board). After a tied roll call, the presiding officer broke the tie and the motion failed.

- Agenda approval (Item 8.3): The committee approved a change to the agenda-approval process so that, when there is a disagreement about whether an item should appear on a committee agenda, the decision is determined by a majority of three people (the County Administrator, the County Board Chair and the relevant Committee Chair) rather than by a single official. Supporters described the change as reducing the possibility that one person could hold up business; opponents said the current chair-based practice has worked and that the change would be a substantial procedural shift.

- Remote attendance notices (Item 8.4): The committee voted to require that, when a board member attends a meeting electronically for a qualifying reason, that reason be stated at the meeting when the remote attendance is announced. Staff also said the county will mark a member absent if staff did not receive proper notice of the remote attendance.

- County association membership review (Item 8.5): The committee approved a requirement that the county administrator include, during budget hearings, a summary of the associations the county belongs to, the fees paid and the benefits realized, so the board can decide which memberships to continue funding.

- Travel and training (Item 8.6): After extended debate, the committee approved adding “training” to the list of allowable county-funded board travel and inserted a limiting sentence that other travel or training related to county business is allowed once per fiscal year and as the budget allows. Committee members debated who should approve such requests. An amendment that would have shifted approval authority to the county administrator failed; the committee voted to retain the County Board Chair as the approver for these board-member travel/training requests. Members also asked staff to develop clear, objective criteria for approving county-funded training requests and to report costs publicly.

- Travel card for board travel (administrative change discussed during adoption): During consideration of the consolidated rules package staff described operational changes tied to the county’s new finance system, including the availability of a restricted travel card that can be used for hotels, airlines and transportation and that would limit incidental charges. Staff said the travel card can be held for a member during nontravel periods or issued for a specific trip; the committee approved adding that operational option for board travel logistics.

- Meeting-decorum changes (Item 8.7): The committee added language to encourage courteous treatment of invited countywide elected officials, department heads and staff attending at the board’s request and to give invited guests an opportunity to correct the record if a board member makes an erroneous assertion about them. Supporters described the language as consistent with Robert’s Rules and ordinary courtesy; some members objected or said existing rules already cover decorum. The committee adopted the language.

Votes at a glance

- Item 8.2 (ethics commission recommendations routing): Motion failed after tie and presiding officer tiebreak. (Roll-call recorded during meeting; tie broken by chair.)

- Item 8.3 (agenda-approval: majority of County Administrator, County Board Chair and Committee Chair): Motion carried.

- Item 8.4 (remote-attendance reason announced at meeting): Motion carried (voice vote).

- Item 8.5 (annual review of associations during budget hearings): Motion carried (voice vote).

- Item 8.6 (add training to allowable travel; limit to once per fiscal year as budget allows; approval retained with County Board Chair): Motion carried after amendments and roll-call votes.

- Item 8.7 (meeting guest courtesy and opportunity to correct record): Motion carried.

What members said

- Member Kasman argued the ethics change was meant to “take the politics out of” enforcement and to let an independent commission substitute for political processes.

- Member Schlick supported bypassing F&A for ethics recommendations, calling the committee step “a needless step in my opinion” and arguing that the full board should be informed where attendance is better and decisions happen.

- Chair Hart (the presiding chair during multiple exchanges) said she favored the committee process in many cases and urged caution about transferring routine committee functions away from standing committees.

Clarifying details and implementation notes

- Staff noted that certain enforcement actions (for example, removal from a committee) cannot be implemented by the Ethics Commission alone and require a formal board action; the proposed routing would have changed only the committee that first reviews Independent Ethics Commission recommendations.

- The new travel/training sentence limits county-funded training to one per fiscal year (per board member) and makes those trips subject to budget availability; members asked staff to propose objective approval criteria and to report travel costs and training outcomes to the board publicly.

- Staff described a restricted travel card (distinct from a general p-card) that can be limited to hotels, airlines and transportation codes; staff said the card can be retained by the office between trips or issued for a single trip to avoid placing incidental charges on a member’s personal card.

Meeting context and next steps

The rules committee meeting ran more than two hours and included extended debate over the travel/training language and the routing of ethics recommendations. Committee members repeatedly urged staff to produce clearer, objective criteria for travel approvals and to include budgetary limits in the county’s travel and training processes. The committee adopted the consolidated rules package and moved to transmit the changes for incorporation into the County Board Rules of Order and Operational Procedures; the committee announced the next meeting date at adjournment.

Ending

The committee adjourned after the final roll call and noted the next full Rules Committee meeting date on the record.