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upon the Board of County Commissioners to adopt a resolution affirming the rights of children <br /> to attend public schools in the County in which they reside, regardless of their immigration <br /> status. He asked that the Board consider a resolution in that regard. <br /> Commissioner porosin said the 2015 draft meeting calendar has been distributed for <br /> the Board's review. He said there are an unprecedented number of ineetings, and he would <br /> like to look at how these are scheduled. He said there are several times when there are weeks <br /> with multiple meetings, and then there are weeks with none. He feels there might be a more <br /> balanced way of scheduling these 51 meetings. <br /> Chair Jacobs reminded everyone that petitions are referred to agenda review and will <br /> come back with a recommendation as soon as possible. <br /> Commissioner Gordon reviewed the following memo regarding her petition on Policies <br /> for the Language Used in County Documents: <br /> The language used in all county documents should support the policies, goals and objectives <br /> of the county. Right now the county has some existing practices, but they should be made into <br /> policies so that they would be consistently followed. In the future, as appropriate, the county <br /> could develop other policies for the language used in county documents. <br /> The county should adopt the following two policies, and then all county departments should be <br /> informed that the policies are in place. <br /> 1. Gender Neutral Language <br /> All county documents should use gender neutral language. As new documents are created or <br /> existing documents are renewed or revised, they should be checked for compliance with that <br /> policy. For example, the term "Chair" should be used rather than "Chairman," the term <br /> "firefighter" should be used rather "fireman," pronouns should not automatically be male, and <br /> so forth. <br /> 2. Abbreviations <br /> The language of county documents should be as clear and transparent as possible, and a part <br /> of achieving that goal is to have guidelines for the use of abbreviations, including the following <br /> two: <br /> a. Any abbreviation should be used with care. <br /> b. The first time an abbreviation is used, it should be spelled out, so that the reader will know <br /> what is being referenced. For example, the county department dealing with county lands <br /> would appear first as Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation (DEAPR) <br /> and then, subsequently, as DEAPR. <br /> Commissioner Gordon referred to a resolution from the Commission for the <br /> Environment (CFE) that was sent to the Board in November 2013, and she asked that this be <br /> considered for one of the Board agendas. <br /> Commissioner Rich said she has been working with the Information Technology <br /> Director and County Manager on the issue of public emails. She said there have been <br /> discussions regarding the possibility of putting emails online for the public to see. She said the <br /> research has been done, and it is time to put that petition forward in order to look at the <br /> research and decide whether to put funds toward this effort. <br /> Commissioner Rich said her next petition is for the planning department. She would <br /> like to know when a controversial plan has been withdrawn. <br />