Agenda - 02-21-2017 - 6-a - Minutes

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32 1 Bonnie Hammersley said she sees revaluation as the County's next big issue. Scientific or not, 2 the revaluation touches on people's property and they will be engaged. They will be calling 3 Commissioners. We have a communications plans set up, and the Community Relations 4 Director will be contacting each of you to go over the FAQs and to help you prepare to be 5 helpful to members of the public who contact you. February 7 is the next time we will be talking 6 about the revaluation, and Todd McGee will be in touch with the Board before that. 7 8 Commissioner Jacobs said that the first two revaluations he was involved with as a 9 Commissioner raised little interest in the public. The one conducted at the cusp of the recession 10 was different. People were upset. A community meeting filled the Senior Center while the Board 11 met at the courthouse. Part of what will affect the temperature is what is happening outside of 12 Orange County. 13 14 In response to Chair Dorosin's earlier remarks about the Board's meetings not being as 15 engaging to the public as they could be, Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board could 16 consider changing its meeting agendas. The first part of our meeting could be externally 17 oriented. Then in the middle we could have a presentation from one of the Departments. We 18 could leave the dais at that point and turn the podium over to the staff. And then we would come 19 back for the more internally oriented agenda items after that, such as procedures for advisory 20 boards or appointments, for example. Just like they have moved public hearings up to the front, 21 because that is what is of interest to most people in the public, they could identify the items that 22 most people in the public do not care about, and address them later. 23 24 Commissioner Burroughs asked the Manager if her intent is to have the monitoring and 25 evaluation document distributed today serve as a living document; that over time items would be 26 added or removed, and updates shared with the Board. She asked how frequently would the 27 goals be revisited. 28 Bonnie Hammersley said as long as they continue to look at the goals as they have done today 29 then they will be fine, but when they start to lose interest in the goals then it will be time to 30 reconsider them. Right now they are fresh and new, and they have not yet accomplished what 31 they wanted to accomplish. Some of these will fall off as priorities because they will have them 32 underway. They will amend them according to how the Board wants to amend them, until they 33 all think they are ready to redo them — and maybe there will be new Commissioners who feel 34 that way. But they will amend them as often as the Board wants. 35 36 Commissioner Price said that her own personal approach to communicating with the public is to 37 get out into the community. The staff could be our ambassadors, telling their own personal 38 stories about working in the County. A lot of people don't understand that an issue is going to 39 affect them directly until after the fact. Consider what they did in Efland on emergency 40 preparedness. They formed an emergency preparedness group that met over and over. They 41 created a booklet, and were able to keep each other informed. They made connections with 42 County and State staff. That's how you get the word out: you make it personal, so people 43 understand. 44 45 Commissioner Rich said a lot of that personal connection happens within homeowners 46 associations. We have an emergency phone tree in my neighborhood. They were able to keep 47 informed about trash collection schedules during the recent snowstorm, for example. It is about 48 personal touch, and getting the community involved. The staff might reach out to homeowners 49 associations to develop those relationships. 50 32