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members of the Board to be brought up to speed. He said that the Board of County <br /> Commissioners has a policy that if something is going to take more than two hours of staff <br /> time, then the Chair and the Manager should decide whether it should be pursued. <br /> Commissioner McKee said that as a new Board member, he does ask a lot of <br /> background information and he does understand that if it does not fit into staff's work schedule <br /> then it can be delayed. He said that he does not expect staff to spend hours finding <br /> information that he only looks at for five minutes. <br /> Frank Clifton said that the context of this discussion is for items that are going on an <br /> agenda and what needs to be in the abstract for the Board to make a decision. <br /> Commissioner Hemminger said that she agreed with using as many electronic means <br /> as possible and the staff can provide links so that the County Commissioners can do their own <br /> research. <br /> Frank Clifton said that many times the background information is in a locked file and will <br /> not be available electronically. <br /> Commissioner Gordon said that agenda items should have the necessary information <br /> for the Commissioners to make a reasoned decision. The standard should be to have the <br /> information long enough to cover the subject but short enough to be interesting, and it should <br /> be whatever is relevant to the decision being made. As an example, if there is an item that <br /> involves a zoning ordinance or agreement, then it would be helpful to have an electronic link, <br /> regardless of how long ago the document was approved. For closed sessions, there should <br /> also be sufficient information provided, along with notification to the Commissioners before the <br /> meeting concerning the topics of the closed session items. <br /> Chair Pelissier said that there should probably be a drop dead date for information to <br /> be submitted for the agenda. <br /> Frank Clifton said that the staff tries to get items to the Board in a timely manner, but <br /> sometimes they are waiting on other agencies for information. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs said that he would hope that the Chair and Vice-Chair, at <br /> agenda review, could try and anticipate whether an item is complete or not. He said that this is <br /> organic and varies according to the item. He does not know if a policy could be made or not. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz made reference to the question about how far back to go in the <br /> history and said that the simple answer is far enough back so that he can make an informed <br /> decision. This will vary depending on the item. He said that the majority of the Board and staff <br /> have a fairly limited duration with Orange County. He thinks that it is incumbent upon the two <br /> Commissioners with tenure to pay special attention to those items that have a long history. <br /> Chair Pelissier said that there is no hard and fast rule to give guidance to the County <br /> Manager. She said that the Board would proceed forward with the comments made. <br /> A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs <br /> to adjourn the meeting at 9:06 PM. <br /> VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> Bernadette Pelissier, Chair <br /> Donna S. Baker, CMC <br /> Clerk to the Board <br />