Minutes 03-04-2010 Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilmember was the liaison but did not attend meetings and they were to be called if the board needed anything. She said that the board would come once a year to Council to report. She also agrees with not having a County Commissioner liaison. She said that having a County Commissioner on a board/commission changed the dynamics of what the board discussed and how they discussed it. Chair Foushee said that when County Commissioners attend board or commission meetings, her thought has always been that if she is not a voting member, then her role is a resource role only. Commissioner Gordon said that if a Board of County Commissioners' member is there, then the implication from this discussion is that it was a bad influence. She suggested just getting rid of County Commissioner liaisons for the advisory boards that are totally advisory in nature. Chair Foushee said that she learned a lot about county government from being a liaison to the boards and commissions. She does not know that she wants to give up being the Commissioner that gets an opportunity to sit in meetings and hear what is going on and provide insight and learn. She is not ready to say that they should not have liaisons for boards and commissions. Commissioner Jacobs said that all Commissioners have made good points. His concern is similar to Chair Foushee's because of the learning aspect and developing relationships with people that are interested in particular issues. He said that he has seen and heard that Board members will dominate a meeting and in that respect, there are problems with how things are set up. He said that he also knows of boards that go out and do surveys without the County Commissioners knowing about it. He wants to be considerate in how the County Commissioners communicate, whatever change is made. Commissioner Hemminger said that since there are different types of boards, it is hard to come to a consensus. There are different guidelines for each board and commission. She thinks that there could be different sets of goals or guidelines for each grouping. Frank Clifton suggested not having anyone appointed as liaisons so that anyone could attend these meetings. The County Commissioners could rotate attending the board meetings each month and could pick which ones to attend. Commissioner Yuhasz agreed with this, if the rotation could give an educational component. Commissioner Pelissier said that it is a huge workload to attend so many board meetings. If the total amount of boards that each person has to go to is decreased, then the community would be served a lot better. She said that she liked the idea of not having a liaison and rotating, but that may cause some board members to only go to the ones they like. Chair Foushee said that it seems that there is consensus to have a reporting mechanism template for each board and commission and this standard format can be determined at a later time. This is for the internal boards and commissions and not the statutory or external boards. Chair Foushee asked that the Board talk about the issue of having a County Commissioner liaison for these internal boards. Commissioner Hemminger said that there would have to be a schedule where there would not be a quorum of the Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner Gordon suggested letting the Clerk know who was going to attend the meetings and if four people show up, then the last one that showed up would leave. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Yuhasz that the Board of County Commissioners not assign a particular liaison to the