Minutes - 20070119 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 the agenda. He strongly supports this idea. He added that there is a new Manager, and he 2 would like to ask her to look at the structure of meetings and make some suggestions about 3 how to improve the meeting process. 4 Chair Carey clarified that if the Board designates an item at a work session as a decision 5 item, that public input should be allowed. 6 Commissioner Jacobs said that there is nothing that he particularly disagrees with so far. 7 He said that when he joined the Board, he was told, "This is how we do things." He said that he 8 would urge the Board to examine the assumptions that this is how everything has to be done - 9 including the starting time, the automatic adjournment time, having to meet at night, etc. He 10 does not like the 10:30 p.m. automatic adjournment. He would rather start at 7:00 p.m., 11 because there is always a scramble to have more meetings because there is not enough time to 12 consider everything. He said that this is self-defeating. 13 Commissioner Gordon agreed about examining all assumptions. She likes the agreed 14 upon adjournment time, or anything that would provide discipline to the meeting. 15 Chair Carey agreed that the Board should open up all assumptions and examine them 16 so that everyone can understand why things are done the way they are. He said that the 17 County Commissioners dispensed with daytime meetings in the past due to work obligations. 18 He said that it is tough for people who work to serve on this Board and it is even tougher for 19 them to come to daytime meetings if they have to take time off from work. He cannot agree with 20 having daytime meetings. 21 Andy Sachs clarified that the Board of County Commissioners meets at night because 22 there is an assumption that nighttime meetings are more accessible. 23 Laura Blackmon asked if there is flexibility with the assumptions, such as starting 24 meetings earlier. She said that she does have suggestions for the agenda format. 25 Commissioner Gordon said that they should be flexible. She agreed with Chair Carey 26 about daytime meetings. She said that she can attend day meetings but the County 27 Commissioners that work would have a difficult time attending day meetings. In terms of the 28 start time of meetings, she would not want to start a meeting that would interfere with the family 29 dinner hour. She prefers starting the meeting at 7:30 p.m. She said there needs to be some 30 kind of adjournment time because some people have to get up and work the next day. 31 Commissioner Jacobs suggested to Laura Blackmon to throw out the whole structure of 32 the agenda and look at making a different structure. Regarding the adjournment time, he thinks 33 that it should be a majority and not unanimous. Regarding daytime meetings, he is sensitive 34 that people have to work during the day. He does think that a lot of people cannot come to the 35 meetings because they are at night. He thinks that if there were a meeting at 3:00 p.m., that 36 people would come. He suggested doing this as an experiment. 37 Commissioner Foushee said that she would be willing to consider a 3:00 p.m. work 38 session. She said that this would allow for staff to end their days earlier. She said that it would 39 be difficult for her to attend regular board meetings during the day. 40 Andy Sachs asked for input on any other assumptions. 41 Commissioner Jacobs made reference to meeting presentations, and said that the 42 County does a miserable job of sharing information visually with the public. He thinks that this is 43 just as important as making sure there is an opportunity for the public to speak at meetings. He 44 said that the agenda item is not always read, and the public may not know what the Board is 45 talking about. 46 Commissioner Gordon said that the public and the County Commissioners all need to 47 see the information. She agreed with Commissioner Jacobs on this issue. 48 Andy Sachs said that he was hearing some flexibility with the start times of meetings, 49 perhaps starting at 7:00 p.m. He also heard that some work sessions could be started at 3:00 50 p.m. He also heard that the work session should be reserved for discussion, except for decision 51 items that are clearly designated and included in the agenda packets. Also, improving visuals is