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Approved 11/01/2017 29 Ashley Moncado said that a preliminary discussion tonight would help this item stay on track so that it can go along 1477 with the discussions at the November quarterly public hearing. She asked what members would recommend. For 1478 example, is 50 percent attendance at public meetings acceptable to members? Staff is looking for a better 1479 understanding of what the Board would recommend. 1480 1481 Craig Benedict reiterated that this item will not be voted on tonight. 1482 1483 Paul Guthrie commented that he understands the intent of the proposal but the language is troubling to him. He said 1484 that he has had to be absent from many meetings over the years, not because he did not want to be present, but 1485 because of medical issues which made it physically impossible for him to attend. He suggested that if a requirement 1486 is made for attendance, it needs to be flexible or it will have a negative effect on certain members. 1487 1488 Craig Benedict said that the measure would certainly be flexible. He said that the way the system is set-up now is 1489 that there is a mini-public hearing, like tonight. Staff expects community input at this meeting, at the BOCC meeting, 1490 at neighborhood meetings, all of which the Planning Board can attend. He thinks that the new process of tonight’s 1491 meeting is giving more opportunities for input, especially with the separation of legislative items and members of the 1492 public can talk at multiple times, which was not part of the process before. The point is to provide flexibility to the 1493 Board and to citizens. Does anyone else have feedback? Staff will wrap the comments together and bring it back to 1494 November. 1495 1496 Tony Blake said that the Planning Board already meets roughly 12 times a year. He said that his problem is running 1497 from meeting to meeting that start at 7:00pm. This balance is starting to push the boundaries for him. He likes his role 1498 in public service but he needs to take care of his basic needs too. 1499 1500 Kim Piracci said that it took about 2 years from when she applied to be on the Planning Board to secure her eventual 1501 position that she serves in now. It seems like it is not difficult to find Planning Board members. 1502 1503 Craig Benedict replied that sometimes seats from specific townships can be hard to fill. 1504 1505 Kim Piracci said that she feels like it is a privilege to serve on the Planning Board and that she does not mind being 1506 held to reasonable requirements, and 50 percent of the quarterly public hearings does not seem like too much to her. 1507 She said that she would like more training from Staff on how to better understand planning items. 1508 1509 Craig Benedict said that Staff could arrange more training. He acknowledged that many people learn in-process. He 1510 noted that the MPD-CZ process has only been reviewed by the Planning Board one other time. The Board, over the 1511 years, learns by experience. Staff will open-up more training opportunities to the whole Board to go over 1512 subdivisions, quasi-judicial hearings and legislative items, and other types of processes. 1513 1514 Tony Blake commented that the UNC School of Government comments on issues that affect the Planning Board. 1515 While everyone may not agree on the conclusions in the online forums, it provides good discussion. This is a 1516 resource that he would recommend that he has used. 1517 1518 Randy Marshall asked how many quarterly public hearings are held a year. 1519 1520 Craig Benedict said that some years there may not even be 4 and sometimes there are only 3 or 4 items on the 1521 agenda. 1522 1523 Ashley Moncado noted that this year there were only 2 quarterly public hearings (May and September were 1524 cancelled). 1525 1526 Craig Benedict said that there may be 10-15 items in one year. Staff will not recommend hearing 2 land use items in 1527 a month because they are also trying to keep a schedule open to applicants. He estimates that there will be 8-9 1528 meetings with the potential for Planning Board-related items. 1529