The Butler County commissioners changed the amount of time between their two monthly meetings to better manage the needs of departments.

The commissioners now meet at 10 a.m. on the first and second Wednesdays of each month.

The first meeting, known as the agenda-setting meeting, has been used to go over the agenda for the following week's regular meeting.

Most action is taken at the regular meeting, unless a department head must have an item approved by a date that precedes the regular meeting. In that case, the commissioners will vote at the agenda-setting meeting. Occasionally, a department head facing an immediate deadline has asked the commissioners to sign off on a measure and then ratify it at the next meeting.

“You don't want to do that too often for obvious reasons,” said Leslie Osche, commissioner chairman.

On Wednesday, the commissioners voted to change the meeting schedule to the first and third Wednesday mornings.

Osche said department heads can request approvals for items at either meeting, both of which will be known as regular public meetings.

She said the measure should decrease the pressure on department heads.

“I think the changed schedule will allow (department heads) to have more time to get what they need,” she said.

Commissioner Kevin Boozel warned that he dislikes voting on items he only learned about before the vote, as is the case in some votes at the agenda-setting meeting.

He told the department heads to let the commissioners know at the previous meeting if they will need approval on an item at the next meeting.

“If you need it, bring it to the (previous) meeting,” Boozel said.

Osche said the previous board of commissioners held an agenda-setting and regular meeting on both the first and third Wednesdays of each month, meaning department heads were pulled out of work four times per month to attend commissioners meetings.

The current board changed the format to the first and second Wednesday mornings of each month when they took office three-and-a-half years ago.

Commissioner Kim Geyer said she also would like to avoid situations in which the commissioners sign off on items and then ratify them at the next meeting.

The only meeting next month is scheduled for 10 a.m. Jan. 23. The new format will begin in February.