Minutes 09-07-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 Commissioner Jacobs said he had mixed feelings on the Town meetings because elected officials need to maintain relationships. Commissioner Jacobs said he regretted that the Town of Mebane was allowed to cancel the September 14th meeting. He said Steve Brantley told him that Mebane is shifting all its residential development to Orange County and all its commercial development to Alamance County. He said he does not like this, and he wants to be able to tell the Town as much. Commissioner Price said the more development there is, the more the Board needs to meet with the Towns. She also agreed with Commissioner McKee about the Fire Departments. Commissioner Price said the comment about meeting with the legislative delegation without cameras present seems irrelevant, as the breakfast is an open meeting, and the public is welcome to attend. Commissioner Marcoplos said the fewer meetings that occur, the greater the chance for longer meetings. Commissioner McKee said the entire Board knew the expectations when running for public office, and should acknowledge that responsibility. He said the Board all spent a lot of time begging for votes, and it is not acceptable to complain about spending time now. He said he appreciates Chair Dorosin's intent, but sometimes the meetings just have to be frequent and long. Chair Dorosin said there seems to be consensus on amending the UDO to include QPHs into regular meetings. He directed staff to make these changes and return to the Board. Chair Dorosin said the decision about the Legislative Breakfast is still open. He said it would allow for greater transparency to have this meeting at a time when more of the public can attend. He said he would be happy to seek input from the legislators. Chair Dorosin said the idea of automatic adjournment sounds appealing, but sometimes extending the meeting in order to complete an item is appropriate. He said he does not think the Board needs to meet 49 times to efficiently run the County, and more items can be moved to the consent agenda. Chair Dorosin agreed with having staff evaluations before a work session or meeting. Chair Dorosin said the best element of the meetings with the Towns is the back and forth dialogue, not just getting a report or update. He said he would like to facilitate such dialogue. Chair Dorosin said if the Board feels he is rushing at meetings, to please let him know. Chair Dorosin said meetings are a tremendous strain on staff, and he agreed with the suggestion of moving the Manager's evaluation prior to the Clerk and Attorney's evaluations. Commissioner Jacobs said in reference to the Consent Agenda, the public does not always know what is going on with items that are placed on that agenda. He said this is an invisible part of government, and that needs to be fixed, despite the fact that most items on the consent agenda are very routine things. Commissioner Jacobs said if the BOCC does not plan to follow the 10:30 p.m. rule of stopping a meeting at that time to ask the full Board if they want to continue or adjourn the meeting, then this rule should be removed from the rules of procedure. Commissioner Jacobs said he would like time to think about all of the comments made tonight, before making any decisions. Commissioner Marcoplos said he supports keeping meetings with the Towns and work sessions as separate meetings in order to have the highest quality meetings. Commissioner McKee referred to the meeting with Towns, and said he gets more information from watching the body language of all attendees. Chair Dorosin said there should be more agenda details when meeting with the Towns.