Minutes - 20070119 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 not necessarily reflect the meeting. He said that there is so much material that is presented to 2 the Board of County Commissioners, that it is hard to read it all. He said that your colleague 3 could tell you better than anyone else. He said that staff sometimes makes reports to their 4 various boards/commissions, but the Board does not always get these reports. He wants 5 information on issues such as transportation. He said that this is the only part of the meeting 6 that is not regimented. He said that the comments should not be used as showboating, but as 7 an effective time to communicate. 8 Laura Blackmon said that she has forwarded to the Board of County Commissioners 9 some of these reports from the various boards/commissions, and she does have a 10 recommendation for a more formal process for this. 11 Commissioner Jacobs said that there should be a place on the County website where 12 the County Commissioners can see the agendas for the boards/commissions. 13 Commissioner Gordon suggested also putting the minutes from the boards/commissions 14 meetings on the website. Also, the Manager's Memo could be posted. 15 At this time, the Board took a short break. 10:18 a.m. 16 17 Substantive Priorities for FY 2007-2008 18 19 -Review of Part I, "Menu of Board Priorities for FY 2007-2008" 20 Andy Sachs suggested prioritizing the levels of 26 issues and then zeroing in on the 21 manageable number. The goals could be made from the manageable number of priorities. He 22 asked the County Commissioners to pick a subset and then whichever items get at least three 23 votes will be moved to the next round. This will be done until there is a manageable number. 24 Commissioner Jacobs asked for clarification on whether the issues are to be ones that 25 the County Commissioners are going to focus on or that the County Commissioners want the 26 County government to focus on. Andy Sachs deferred to Laura Blackmon. 27 Laura Blackmon said that the Board needs to set the direction for those things it wants 28 staff to accomplish to improve government and improve services. 29 Commissioner Gordon said that she needs to understand from the staff whether the top 30 commissioner priorities should take into account which departments would do the work, so that 31 certain departments would not be overloaded. 32 Laura Blackmon said that the Board needs to tell her what to focus her attention on and 33 the Board does not need to look at departments, but what the County needs to provide to the 34 citizens. She said that the operational side is her responsibility to manage. 35 Chair Carey said that priorities are synonymous for the Board and the staff. He said that 36 there are some things that are uniquely the work of this Board, such as setting the tax rate. 37 There are also maintenance and function issues that need to be done no matter what the Board 38 decides are the priorities, such as emergency preparedness, public safety, etc. This is part of 39 the health, education, and welfare government function. 40 Laura Blackmon said that there may be a situation where the Board wants these issues 41 maintained at a higher level, such as emergency services. This would become one of the Board 42 priorities. 43 Commissioner Jacobs said that he has struggled with the comprehensive plan. He 44 thinks that things like taxes and sustainability have a wide range of options and require a large 45 amount of thought and work. The comprehensive plan has a rigid schedule, but he does not 46 think it requires the same level of involvement because it is so structured. He said that having 47 the comprehensive plan as one of the priorities could cause the Board to not get as engaged in 48 some other things that require engagement to a greater extent because they are not as clearly 49 defined as the comprehensive plan.