Minutes 06-16-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Yuhasz said that the Board of Health is typically a three-year term and would be a reasonable term limit. Commissioner McKee said that he liked it this year but he had no prior experience and he respected other's areas. He said that there were plenty of boards to choose from and he did not feel shorted. Chair Pelissier said that with the decrease in the number of boards, it narrowed the pool. She said that if the County Commissioners keep two, then there is less to choose from. She said that she purposely only kept one and left more for others to choose from. Commissioner Gordon likes the current system but suggested that, as a compromise, one possibility would be for each member to only keep one board. She said that this affects her the most because she will lose one of the transportation boards. She said that the retroactive piece is not fair to the senior members. Commissioner Gordon said that she has heard three options: - Each County Commissioner keeps two boards (current system) - Retroactively limit the term to three years - Keep one board Chair Pelissier suggested narrowing this down to two options today. Commissioner Jacobs said that the current system is an improvement to what they had in the past. He made reference to the retroactive issue and said that he has been on this Board for 13 years and he has never had the opportunity to do transportation because Commissioner Gordon will not let go. He said that this is not fair because he has an interest too. He said that the more people that have knowledge of different things on the Board, the stronger the Board will be. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he appreciated Commissioner Gordon's concerns and he suggested choosing one board now, and be able to keep it for a term limit; and all else goes into the pot. Commissioner McKee asked about the time limits and Commissioner Yuhasz said that the one board would not be retroactive and the other board would be retroactive. Commissioner McKee said that he has a concern about doing a free-for-all. He said that a compromise would be to choose one and repeatedly choose one if there was a particular interest. Commissioner Yuhasz said that it does not seem fair for one Board member to hold on to a particular outside board for as long as they are in office. There should be turnover at some point. He would suggest putting a time limit on the number of years to ensure this turnover. Commissioner Gordon said that she does think they should have an opportunity to stay on a board for a long time, since otherwise she would never have been able to accomplish what she did for regional transportation. For example, she worked on the joint MPO Long Range Transportation Plan which won a national award not long ago. She said that when Commissioner Jacobs came on the Board, she had three regional assignments and Commissioner Jacobs first said that he wanted Triangle Transit but then later said he wanted Triangle J Council of Governments. She said that she gave up TJCOG for Commissioner Jacobs so that he would have a chance to serve. Options: Commissioner McKee suggested that each Board member retain one committee without limits. All agreed to have this as one of the options.