Meeting procedures and rules in Texas

Have you ever observed a commissioners court or city council meeting and wondered what all the hullabaloo is over procedure? Well, you, too, can become some sort of minor authority on the official directing of public meetings with the help of The Open Meetings Handbook and Robert's Rules of Order (this link goes to a cribsheet, not the full volume). A basic knowledge of Parliamentary Procedure can't hurt, either.

If all those footnotes and case studies in the handbook seem onerous, go on down to page 82 to see an outline of everything that comes before. The entire document is only 186 pages, less than half the size of a regular fiction novel! Power through, skip the notes. Read it over and over if you feel you can't understand it the first time. It becomes clearer with reading repetition.You'll be all the wiser for it!