Minutes - 20061207 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Relevant Terms • Review handout with definitions (see attached). • Proposed definitions of important terms-on back of agenda sheet. Andy Sachs said that the retreat is not for operational discussions, but to talk about issues and the goals for the coming fiscal year. Goal - a general description of the change for a particular issue (i.e., increase the number of affordable housing units in Orange County). Issue - a topic of interest, such as "affordable housing" or "child abuse prevention." Objective - a specific description of the change that we seek, in that it includes the size of the change and a timeframe for the change to happen. For example, "increase the number of affordable housing units in Orange County by 300 before June 30, 2008." Priority -the quality or state of coming earlier. The issues we want to deal with before other issues are "priority issues." The goals we want to achieve before other goals are our "priority goals." Retreat -the time during which the Board and its senior staff identify priority issues and goals, as opposed to work sessions and other meetings when lower-order organizational business is conducted. Commissioner Jacobs suggested having these definitions displayed during the retreat, so that the County Commissioners do not get last. Chair Carey said that he agrees in general with the definitions of each of these words. He said that the problem is that when the Board camas up with a new priority, it is difficult to figure out where it fits in the context of all of the other things that staff is being asked to da. There is a level of service that the staff has to maintain. He would like to get a better handle on this issue. He said that the Board likes to pile things an the staff and that needs to be addressed. Laura Blackmon said that the mast important definition is setting priorities. There are so many things on the table right now that it is difficult for staff to figure out which things to do first. She said that priority is the key. She said that she hopes that the Board will not come up with new issues. She said that staff needs direction an the issues on the table now. Commissioner Jacobs said that, as Commissioners, they are all aggressive in trying to deal with as many problems and areas of improvement as possible, and they encourage staff to be as aggressive and creative as possible also. He said that one priority or goal is to have a zero tax increase. He said that same of the budget drivers are unavoidable, and there should be some sense going into the budget of how much taxes should be raised. He said that the process has not lent itself to discipline. Commissioner Gordon suggested at same point during the retreat talking about process issues, such as the issue brought up by Commissioner Foushee of moving the Board comments to another paint of the County Commissioners' meetings. She said that the Board could talk about how it operates during the retreat. Andy Sachs said that an alternative would be to identify process issues such as the agenda as a priority and then the Board could figure out beyond the retreat how it will be organized. Commissioner Nelson agreed about setting time aside at the retreat to talk about organizational issues. He said that, when he was in Carrboro, they set aside an hour to talk about these process or organizational issues at the retreat. He asked if it would be bad as a Board to not add any more to the priority list and not to spend any more money.