Agenda - 02-10-2015 - 4 - Laserfiche WebLink

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2 8. Reports 9. County Manager’s Report 10. County Attorney’s Report 11. Appointments 12. Board Comments 13. Information Items 14. Closed Session 15. Adjournment For benefit of Board consideration, it is worth notingthat the “Board Comments” item onregular meeting agendas occurred earlier in meetingsduring the 1990’s and early 2000’s. In the 1990’s and early2000’s, “Board Comments”was included as Item #3 in the Order of Business. Having “Board Comments” earlier in the Order of Business provided, among other things: The opportunity early in aregular meeting for individual Board members to share information with the public and other Board members on meetings they had attended The opportunity early in aregular meeting for individual Board members to share information with the public and other Board memberson upcoming community and County-sponsored events, forums and celebrations The opportunity early in a regular meeting for individual Board members to share concerns they had heard from members of the public withother Board members andwith the public The opportunity early in aregular meeting for the public to hear individual Board membersvoice policy concerns to staff and other Board members and/or recommend that staff pursue certain actions to address an issue/problem/etc. In April 2007the Order of Businesswas amended to relocate “Board Comments”to occur after the “Reports” item. “Board Comments”was then subsequently relocated to its current placement, after “Appointments”, in February 2010. To the best of staff’s general recollection, some of the factors and observations leading to one or both of the 2007 and 2010 actions to re-locate “Board Comments” included: Board Comments had grown in length, sometimes continuing up to approximately onehourduring the early portion of a regular meeting Desire for the Board to address issues and make decisions on written agenda items as early in the meeting as possible when everyone was presumably more attentive rather thanmaking those decisions later in the evening Concern that Board Comments occurring earlier in the meeting extended the wait time for the public that attended Board meetings to provide input and witness decisions on items on the written agenda Provide the opportunity for members of the public with school-age children to be present for Board decision items. Members of the public would be present for “Board Comments”early on the agenda, but would sometimes subsequently have to leave and miss itemsfor which they hadactually attended the meetingdue to their children’s sleep/homework needs The time invested for Board Comments sometimes limitedthe Board from accomplishing the “Business” items on the written agenda, causing items to be discussed late at night or delayed to future meetings, sometimes prompting frustration for Board members, the public and staff