With the arrival of new Administrator Karen Folks, the Cass County Board of Commissioners is mulling over changes to the way it operates as the county government enters a “new era.”

Members of the board discussed a motion introduced by Folks that would move around the time and dates of the pair of board meetings convened during the first and third Thursdays every month during their meeting last Thursday in Cassopolis. The new administrator proposed that the board of commissioners moves its committee of the whole meeting, presently hosted before the regular meeting at 6 p.m., to the first and third Tuesdays at 1 p.m., while the regular meetings will be moved up to 6 p.m. the first and third Thursdays.

The committee of the whole meeting, which has been held before the regular meeting for the past several years, is a more informal meeting, where the commissioners — and members of the audience — can discuss proposals and motions for the commissioners’ consideration before they move on to the regular meeting for final approval. Typically, motions discussed during the committee of the whole meetings don’t move forward for consideration until the next regular meeting, meaning they don’t get approved for at least two weeks.

Folks suggested the changes for two primary reasons, she said. First, by having the committee of the whole meeting two days earlier, it would give the commissioners more time to discuss motions. By shortening the gap to two days instead of two weeks for motion approvals, it would also decrease the likelihood of new action being added to the regular meeting agenda, Folks said.

“Two weeks in the operations of an organization means you are going to have changes,” Folks said. “Time and operations don’t stand still, so the likelihood of having additions to your agenda is about 97 to 99 percent.”

Board Chairperson Bernie Williamson supported the idea, saying that with the current meetings occurring back to back, meetings have run long into the evenings.

“We need to use [the committee of the whole] as a work session, and be able to have as much time as needed,” Williamson said. “By separating the two meetings, we can either add more to the agenda or have more rigorous discussions, because sometimes we’re racing against the clock.”

District Seven Commissioner Clark Cobb expressed reservations about the potential change, believing that moving the committee of the whole to the middle of the workday would limit public participation in the meetings.

The motion will be further developed, with plans of it moving forward for consideration next month.