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EXCERPT FROM February 8, 2011 BOCC MEETING — DRAFT MINUTES <br />3. Discussion on the Process for a Member of the Board of Commissioners to Place <br />an Item on a Board Meeting Agenda <br />Chair Pelissier said that there is a Board of County Commissioners' procedure <br />that addresses this already, but it is not followed regularly. The normal procedure is to <br />petition each other during County Commissioners' comments and ask to have an item <br />placed on an agenda. She does not think that this is a perfect process. She said that <br />only one Commissioner should not be able to put something on the agenda because it <br />requires a lot of staff time. <br />Commissioner Hemminger said that she does not like the prior policy because it <br />is not a public arena and if you bring it up at meeting, then Board members can weigh in <br />and then follow the same process as above. She said that this needs to be public and it <br />should go through the process as items brought forth by the public. . <br />Chair Pelissier asked if everyone agreed that these items should be brought up <br />at public meetings. Everyone but Commissioner Gordon agreed. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that she would like to have some kind of balance <br />between being hit with something at a meeting and having it submitted in a timely <br />process for agenda review. A lot of times the County Commissioners' comments are <br />late at night. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he does have a strong feeling on how a <br />Commissioner puts an item on the agenda. He said that a Commissioner should not be <br />put to a higher standard than the public. <br />Commissioner McKee agreed with Commissioner Jacobs. He said that if there <br />was an item that was not necessarily popular with the rest of the Board, then it would <br />never be on an agenda if there was a vote. <br />Frank Clifton said that his career has not always been with a Board such as this <br />that is very cooperative and works together. He said that you have to be careful with <br />saying that any Board member can bring an agenda item because a future Board could <br />be more divisive. <br />Chair Pelissier said that her concern is that there would be items that two County <br />Commissioners want that would take up an enormous amount of staff time. It was noted <br />that perhaps there should be a consideration of whether the request would fake more <br />than two hours of staff time. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he has no problem going to the Chair, Vice - <br />Chair, and Manager for review, but he feels very strongly about anything that puts the <br />County Commissioners to a higher standard than the public. <br />Commissioner Hemminger suggested having County Commissioners bring up <br />these items during public comment. <br />Commissioner Foushee said that it would be helpful to institute a section in the <br />meetings for the County Commissioners to bring forth petitions as does the public. It <br />would follow the same process, <br />Commissioner Yuhasz agreed with Commissioner Foushee and Commissioner <br />Jacobs, but he thinks that the number of petitions that any individual Commissioner can <br />bring at any one meeting should be limited. He thinks that it should come immediately <br />after the public comments. <br />Chair Pelissier asked if there was consensus to create a new item on the agenda <br />that would be called "Petitions by the Board of County Commissioners ", and the same <br />process would be used that is used for requests from the public, which is to refer it to the <br />Chair, Vice- Chair, and Manager for review. <br />