Minutes 11-10-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chair Pelissier said that they are working on this during agenda review. She agreed that things need to be streamlined. Commissioner Foushee said that she is not for adding meetings, but she wants to be careful to meet when they need to and do it in a timely manner. The public also needs to be aware that there is a meeting and the topics. Commissioner Jacobs said that they all feel their time is valuable. When there is a meeting that only lasts 1 '/2 hours, then he feels unproductive. He said that if staff sees a short agenda, then staff can add items that may be in the pipeline. He wants to get as much done as he can while he is here. Commissioner Yuhasz said that one of the things they talked about in agenda review is to convert some work sessions to regular meetings, but on a shortened basis. Commissioner Gordon said that she supported flexibility and streamlining but we need to make sure the public knows what we are doing. She said that work sessions are usually preliminary meetings and votes are taken at a regular meeting. Sometimes the public does not know what is going on and when they can speak and when they cannot. If there are going to be decisions at work sessions, then it should be noticed for the public. Chair Pelissier said that it would be a public meeting, but the only difference would be taking a work session and making it a limited regular meeting with a limited number of items. It would be posted as a decision-making meeting. Frank Clifton said that it is difficult for staff to move agenda items forward and it takes time to get items on the agenda. Commissioner Foushee said that if the County Commissioners are going to change how they do business, then they need to educate the public on this newfound flexibility. Chair Pelissier said that if the County Commissioners were to do a limited item regular meeting, they would not do this on a Tuesday. She asked if the Board wanted to even consider that, since it would require a lot of public education. Commissioner Gordon said that there are logistical concerns because of the agenda review process. She said that she would be hesitant to do this, because there might be an unprepared agenda item. She does not see this as a broken process. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he could see the value of having the limited regular meetings. He suggested that it be regularized so that the public could learn soon enough that the meetings would occur. Commissioner McKee said that it is not a big issue to him, and he does not see it as broken. He does not know how much time this will save. Commissioner Hemminger said that it would be too confusing and she prefers to keep it as is. The Board agreed by consensus to keep the current process in place of having separate regular meetings and work sessions as they do now. Board of Commissioners' Rules of Procedures — proposed changes: (some have already been approved but need to be incorporated into final document) Page 10 and Page 11: Standard Meeting Time for BOCC meetings: Change: 7:30pm to 7:OOpm The Board agreed.