Minutes - 20061207 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Laura Blackman said that she has seen these six priorities and she agreed that the Board is entitled to know the status of those priorities. She said that staff feels like they never accomplish anything because things keep getting added to the list. Rod Visser said that some of those six priorities had longer horizons, such as the County campus, comprehensive plan, and Justice Facilities. He said that the point in having the priorities listed was, in his view, that if they were not listed as priorities then, they would not get done. He said that Commissioner Foushee is right in terms of the importance of knowing the status of these priorities and whether they are still priorities. Chair Carey said that staff can let the Board know about the six priorities and their timelines. These were Board priorities. He said that there is a difference between Board priorities and individual Commissioner priorities. He asked what type of product the Board wants coming out of the January 19th retreat. Andy Sachs said that if those six priorities are still important to individual Commissioners, they need to let him know during the interview. Laura Blackman said that some are short range and some are tang range. Commissioner Jacobs said that those six priorities were adopted as priorities on a short- term basis, because the Board wanted to give direction to staff since there were so many priorities. He said that the Board never decided that these were the top six priorities for all time. For example, environmental responsibility is not one of the six priorities, but it is one of hrs top priorities. Laura Blackmon said that staff needs to come back to the Board with a report an what they are already working on that fits into the priorities. Commissioner Gordon said that she understood that these were six priorities to work on while Rod Visser was Interim Manager. Her personal preference is to be informed about the history and be disciplined, but be free to tell Andy Sachs what she thinks are her top priorities. She thinks that Commissioner Nelson should feel free to say what he wants to say about priorities. Commissioner Nelson said that there is a sense that this is a lot on the table. If the Board agrees to not add any other priorities, he may be restricted because he is the new Commissioner. He said there needs to be some housecleaning this year, and he would be fine with that. Commissioner Foushee said that she understands that the Board has done an exercise similar to this before. She is cautioning the Board not to travel down this road again. She said that, when the individual priorities come forward, they should be in keeping with something that has already been established. Andy Sachs made reference to Chair Corey's question about the product of the retreat and said that he is striving for a set of goals or statements that identify the direction of changes far numerous issues, with same shared expectations of staff and the Board an how to make those happen. Chair Carey said that years ago, when the Board adopted goals, decisions were made in January and staff would bring back expected costs and timelines later. He said that this gives staff guidance. He would like to get back to this. Commissioner Gordon asked about the status report on other things that the staff is doing. Andy Sachs said that after he meets with individual Commissioners, he will meet with Laura Blackmon and they can narrow this information down and present it at the retreat. Commissioner Gordon said that she would like the shared information and the agenda to be given to all well ahead of time. Commissioner Nelson asked about a list of priorities from last year's retreat and Rad Visser said that there is a list of priorities that were discussed, but there was never any definition about the order of the priorities.