Orange County NC Website
Commissioner Jacobs said that sometimes it can be anticipated which items can be <br /> included or excluded by custom. There are some more common sense criteria that could be <br /> applied for consent agenda items. If it is known that someone will be interested in an issue, <br /> then it behooves the Chair and Vice-Chair to consider it for the decision agenda. <br /> Commissioner Gordon suggested generating a list of items that would not be on the <br /> consent agenda, such as Planning issues and issues that are controversial. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs suggested having the Clerk see what was pulled in the last two <br /> years from the consent agenda and why to see if there is some kind of consistency with <br /> issues. <br /> Chair Pelissier said that when the Chair and Vice-Chair are looking at the consent <br /> agenda, it is impossible to guess who may want to pull an item off the consent agenda and if <br /> they see a list it will predict the future. She said that the agendas are more efficient because <br /> they put more on the consent agenda to leave time for decision items. She is not interested in <br /> pursuing this. <br /> Commissioner Foushee said that this is not broken, so she does not want to fix it. She <br /> understands why Commissioner Jacobs brought this forward, but she does not want to pursue <br /> it. She does not want to ask the Clerk to do any more work on this. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz said that the current process has worked fairly well in the past <br /> two years, and if a Commissioner feels that there is an item that they want to pull, then to alert <br /> the Chair or Vice-Chair about it through the questioning process. <br /> The Board agreed by consensus to keep the current process in place. <br /> 2. Internal Reports <br /> • Written reports on small-group meetings <br /> • Verbal reports by Commissioners <br /> Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board used to have a process that when Board <br /> members and staff met with other entities that there would be a brief written or email report <br /> summarizing these meetings. He said that he feels in the dark about meetings, especially the <br /> ones that the Chair has such as DOT and TJCOG meetings. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs made reference to verbal reports by Commissioners and said <br /> that if there is a regular meeting that ends early or if there is a work session, the Board <br /> comments should include reports from County Commissioners about meetings that they have <br /> attended, such as advisory boards and intergovernmental meetings. He would like to consider <br /> a better way to communicate. <br /> Commissioner Foushee said that she is not opposed to this. <br /> Commissioner Hemminger said that she liked the format for Board comments and the <br /> Board comment period could be extended to more than three minutes. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs said that there is an ethic on this Board to get over the Board <br /> comments as quickly as possible. Therefore, some members do not report anything. <br /> Commissioner Foushee disagreed and said that what happens is if the County <br /> Commissioners are meeting after an advisory board meeting, this information can be too <br /> technical and Board comments is not the place for this information. She said that if there is <br /> something of interest to share, she will share it. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz agreed with Commissioner Foushee. <br /> Commissioner Gordon said that this is multi-faceted and the Board comments section <br /> of the agenda is a good place for highlights and staff can give highlights on other entity <br />