Agenda - 03-17-2015 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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9 1 Commissioner Dorosin said he would be in favor of getting rid of all special 2 requirements. He said the Board can take things like geographic diversity or applicant 3 backgrounds into account during the nomination process. He said he thinks it makes no sense 4 to have vacancies when people have applied to be on the Board. 5 Commissioner Rich asked what happens if you find that all of the applicants are from 6 Chapel Hill and no other part of the County. She questioned how you could know that future 7 Commissioners would not stack committees in their favor. She said if you take away 8 requirements, such as geographical location, you could wind up with too many people from one 9 area, and then you do not have diversity. She questioned how to make sure each area of the 10 County gets to participate in advisory board decisions. 11 Commissioner Pelissier asked if this discussion is just about the geographical 12 requirementsthat are a choice. She said there are a lot of boards where you have to be 13 qualified in a certain way, including some geographical requirements, and some of these are by 14 state statute. 15 Chair McKee said his reading is that this discussion is about geographical requirements 16 only. 17 Commissioner Dorosin said he would be in favor of getting rid of any of these 18 requirements that are not statutory. 19 Chair McKee said he is not sure that all of the specific types are statutorily required, but 20 they might be necessary. 21 Commissioner Rich asked which boards are having a problem. 22 Chair McKee said the Housing Authorityboard has had difficulty with achieving quorum. 23 Commissioner Rich said she is trying to figure out the boards with a geographical 24 requirement. 25 Chair McKee said this includes Animal Services, and Agricultural Preservation. 26 Commissioner Jacobs said the Commission for the Environment has very specific 27 limitations. 28 Commissioner Pelissier said these are notgeographical limitations. She said if it is 29 focused on geographical, the primary board is the Planning Board. She thinks it is very 30 important for the Planning Board to have people from different parts of the County. She said 31 these people have very different experiences to offer. 32 Commissioner Pelissier said, thinking about non-geographical requirements, it is 33 important for a board such as the Commission for the Environment to have people who know 34 about different aspects of the environment. She wants to see that diversity. She said there has 35 been not much of a problem, and she does not want to see a change because of a few glitches. 36 She does not think this helps with moving forward. 37 Commissioner Price saidthere have been problems with geographicissues on the 38 Planning Board. She said her spot on this board has changed continuously as a result of this. 39 She said she agrees with Commissioner Dorosin that flexibility is needed, but she also agrees 40 with Commissioner Rich that there needs to be balance. 41 Commissioner Price said the other issue is that some people are just not interested 42 because they feel it is a waste of time. She said many boards and commissions meet in the 43 evening, which can be difficult for people. She said there have been people on the OUTBoard 44 who have had to leave. She said people have also questioned whether the Commissioners pay 45 attention to what comes out of these advisory board meetings. 46 Commissioner Jacobs saidhe came into this thinking of the fact that the places with the 47 longest unfilled vacancies are the ones that are designated to the towns, who never bother to fill 48 them. He said the towns do not care, and he would like to create a mechanism that if atown 49 vacancyis not filled within 6 months, it is up for “grabs”. He said efforts can still be made to find