Minutes 04-17-2018 - Laserfiche WebLink

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14 on behalf of the staff. He said should this situation arise, then outside counsel would be retained. Commissioner Jacobs said a county attorney was added to the BOA meetings as developers were bringing their own attorneys to the BOA meetings. He said having an attorney present is a good thing. He said the issue here is whether there should be recourse to the BOA if it feels it requires or desires the additional support of outside counsel. Commissioner Jacobs said he does not want to spend the extra money to have outside counsel at every BOA meeting, and he feels that the County Attorney’s office does a good job; however, the BOA should be given the opportunity to request outside counsel if it deemed it necessary. Chair Dorosin said there some things already being put in motion to improve the BOA process: • Recording BOA meeting Bonnie Hammersley said she received quotes from the Clerk for the recording team at the Whitted facility, and she will be recommending this as part of the FY17-18 budget for all of the additional meetings. • Access to public records on line John Roberts said last session, the General Assembly passed a law changing the way cities and counties can respond, and have that response be compliant with the law. He said he began working with the IT Director to post almost all public records requests on line, and the final process is being drafted now. He said once this is done, they will be able to get this started for countywide responses to public record requests. He expects this process to be completed in a month or two. Chair Dorosin clarified that if one makes a public records request, the response to the request will be posted on line so that not only the requestor can access them, but all of the public may do so as well. John Roberts said yes, there will be about a 10 day turn around between a request being made and online access to view the response. • Training for BOA members upon joining the BOA John Roberts said Professor Owens has a webinar series, which includes: “Conducting an Evidentiary Hearing” and “Making a Quasi-Judicial Decision”. He said both of these are available to the BOA. Craig Benedict, Planning Director, said a full year of access to the webinars was purchased in December 2017. He said these are interactive webinars for either the BOA or Planning Board. He said new members go through an orientation, including rules of procedure, by laws, and a review of county created brochures. He said access to these webinars will be helpful. Chair Dorosin thanked staff for all its efforts on these different topics. He said the question of outside counsel remains. He asked if Commissioner McKee wanted outside counsel at all cases, or if he would prefer to follow the lead of the Town of Chapel Hill where independent counsel is hired when necessary Commissioner McKee said he would like independent counsel retained for all cases. A motion was made by Commissioner McKee to retain outside counsel to represent the Board of Adjustment in all matters coming before it. Dies for lack of a second