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

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10 1 someone in that municipality, but they would not have to berecommended by the elected 2 officials. 3 Commissioner Jacobs said he thinks there are a lot of other boards with specific 4 requirements. He said the slate could be wiped, and the Board of Commissioners would just be 5 trusted to put applicantson these boards thatrepresent a diversity of interest in that particular 6 area, if there is not statutory requirement. However, he said his inclination is that the 7 requirements have been worked out over a long period of time to create a balance. 8 He said it is important to have the geographical diversity on the Planning Board to make 9 sure everyone has a say. He said he would be willing to look at the board to see if any are 10 morerestrictive than necessary, and he would like to make a policy regarding the unfilled town 11 positions. 12 Commissioner Burroughs said her thinking issomewhat incremental. She believes the 13 current system was set up for fairly good reasons. She likes the idea that if a town position is 14 not filled in 6 months, the Board can fill it. She said she would not throw outthe whole system, 15 as it can lead to homogenization. She said this is directly dealing with the seats that are not 16 getting filled, rather than throwing out the whole system. 17 Commissioner Dorosin said hisinterest is not tearing downwhat has been constructed. 18 He questions, when there are seats that are vacantfor a period of time, whether it is better to 19 have this reserved for a specific category, or to have the Board fill those seats with people who 20 have applied to be on that Board. He said this may not mean that the requirements go away 21 forever. 22 He said it is important to recognize the people who step forward with interest in being on 23 these boards. He said the other question is identifying why there are vacancies. He 24 questioned whether the problemis recruitment or a board that is not functioning well. He said 25 all of this speaks to other issues, such as people serving on multiple boards. He said the goal 26 should be to maximize the level of citizen engagement. He said he has talked to people who 27 applied for boards and never heard anything. He would expand Commissioner Jacob’s 28 suggestion about filling the town seats after 6 months to include any seat that is hard to fill. 29 Commissioner Jacobs said he would be willing to consider this proposal. 30 Commissioner Jacobs said Randy Marshall, the former principal of Carrboro 31 Elementary, has been applying for the Planning Board for at least 10 years. He said it would be 32 nice to see this information and see how long people have been on the list. He said if people 33 continue to renew their application to serve, then the Board does owe them a courtesy. 34 Commissioner Jacobs gave some background history on the Housing Authority, and he 35 said there is some gray area about what this board is supposed to be doing.He suggested 36 work by the department heads and the attorney to determine the distinctive roles of the boards 37 to make it easier to recruitfor them. 38 Chair McKee already asked the staff to work with the chairs of these boards on a six 39 month record of attendanceto identify where there are problems. He said if a person has a 40 long history of not attending meetings, it is time to start looking for another applicant. 41 Commissioner Rich said this is moving toward a six month periodafter which another 42 applicant is considered. She asked if information on the length of a vacancy is provided in the 43 abstracts. She said the Commissioners do not have this information. 44 ThomFreeman said there has been information added to the bottom of the abstract, 45 which lists the vacant seats and the expiration date of the vacancy. He said it does not list the 46 amount of time the position has been open. He said part of this is a flaw with the database, but 47 staff can work on getting this information in there. 48 Commissioner Richsaid it would be helpful to have that information, given the direction 49 things are moving.