Minutes 01-31-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chair Jacobs asked if Nancy and Tara had the list of information items requested during this discussion. Nancy Coston said yes, and that she assumed the Board would want to know the costs associated with those things. Commissioner Price asked if staff had any idea how many people have left the County because of the cost of living. Nancy Coston said she does not think they have any numbers that track that. Commissioner Dorosin urged staff to think not just about programs we have or have had, but also to think of things they have not tried before (e.g. take County owned land and build a manufactured housing park). He said we should think about it as broadly as possible rather than be constrained in our thinking. Commissioner Price said that what she thinks seems to work is when governments support community organizations. The Board decided to briefly discuss the tally of the top 5 goals from the list of potential 2014-15 budget goals that had been identified earlier in the retreat. Each commissioner had individually voted in priority order - #1 to #5. By assigning 5 points for each #1 vote, 4 points for each #2 vote, and so on, the tally of the top goals was as follows: 1. Defending the quality of public education —22 points 2. Ensure our safety net services — 16 points 3. Funding for sewer and hook ups in Rogers Road area (construction) -14 points 4. Targeted funding to address child poverty i.e., increase childcare subsidies - 9 points 5. (tie) Support broad range of economic development— new and existing businesses (make sure to support infrastructure) — 8 points 5. (tie) Consider limit to viability of tax increase — 8 points Commissioner Rich said she does not want to discard the other ones. Commissioner Gordon agreed, and said that all of the goals suggested by the Commissioners should at least be considered. Rod Visser said the assumption he would test is that the feedback that the Manager and staff have received from this exercise is useful because it IS prioritized. He said that you can see what the highest priorities are, and there are other things on the list that are still desirable, but you have to take into consideration available resources. Michael Talbert said that is a fair assumption. His quick reaction is that there are three goals that are clearly everyone's highest that he and staff will move forward with. He said they will deal with the others in priority order— if they are on the list, maybe they don't get funding next year, but they don't disappear. Rod Visser asked for the Board to take a few minutes to reflect on the retreat and to ask themselves what went well, and what did not go so well or what they might do differently. He explained his reason for asking is that it might be useful in planning next year's retreat or future work sessions. Commissioner McKee said the opportunity to be able to rank budget goals was a good thing. Commissioner Dorosin said he thought it would be helpful to share everybody's budget goal rankings. He noted his next comment not as something that didn't go well, but as something that didn't go enough - an opportunity for them to dialogue with each other.