Agenda - 06-05-2012 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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16 1 -Laura Streitfeld 2 Executive Director, Preserve Rural Orange 3 4 5 6 Tom Schopler said that he submitted his name as a candidate to the previous advisory 7 board before it was dissolved, and now he does not have an opportunity to participate in this 8 newly created board. He said that the appearance of a non-transparent process is important. 9 Will Raymond is a resident of Chapel Hill. He said that the County needs an open and 10 transparent process to build integrity. He said that the diversity of representation and opinion 11 needs to be increased. 12 Chair Pelissier asked about clarification on the policy of advisory boards versus this 13 particular policy. She said that all advisory boards still have to follow all of the policies and 14 priorities of the Board of County Commissioners. 15 John Roberts said that every advisory board will have its own specific policy document, 16 or will have one before it is approved. The reason this is coming to the Board first is because 17 this board was abolished and there is no current Economic Development Advisory Board. He 18 said that this policy document will be the primary guiding document. The general policy 19 document still applies. He said that the Board of County Commissioners is following the 20 general policy in this process. There are a couple of areas in the general policy where it says 21 that it can make changes and modifications as it sees fit. 22 . Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board of County Commissioners did discuss this at 23 a work session and most times, the public and media do not attend. He said that he does 24 agree with the statements made by the public that they object to the manner in which this is 25 being done. He thinks that an unfair correlation has been drawn between the dysfunction of the 26 previous Economic Development Commission and the notion that if we solicit participation from 27 members of the public who are not preselected, it will delay and undermine the efforts of the 28 Board of County Commissioners and the staff to provide quality economic development in 29 Orange County. He does not believe that is true.. 30 A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to 31 open the process to members of the public to apply for this board, and for the Clerk's Office to 32 vet the applications. 33 Commissioner Foushee said that she is grateful to staff for what they had done on this, 34 but she expected to see a broader field of applicants. She said that it is hard to consider 35 someone on this list who has not submitted an application. She said that others have shown an 36 interest. 37 Commissioner Yuhasz said that he understood the concern about non-submittal of 38 applications, but this should not stop the Board from appointing other members. He recognizes 39 the need to be very specific in who is appointed and recruited for this specific board. 40 Commissioner Foushee said that she would like to at least replace the four names that 41 did not submit applications. 42 Commissioner McKee said that the Board discussed this at a work session with staff, 43 and he feels like the staff brought back what the Board asked for. He said that one of his 44 parameters was that if there was not an application filled out, then he will not consider them. 45 Another parameter he imposed was whether or not the applicant was an Orange County citizen, 46 and if not, whether they were heavily invested in Orange County through business, etc. He said 47 that the staff did complete the task set before them. He would at least like to move forward with 48 as many applicants as possible. 49 Chair Pelissier said that staff did what the Board of County Commissioners asked them 50 to do and the Board made a commitment to work with the Chambers of Commerce to get