Agenda 11-07-19 Item 8-a - Minutes

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9 1 address diversity. He said many of the recommendations come from the boards, and there 2 needs to be training or outreach offered to these boards to encourage diverse recruitment. 3 He said there may not be targeted outreach, or there may not be diverse applicants that are 4 applying, but there are more components to the issue than decisions being made by the 5 BOCC. He said it is important to be supportive of the boards, and if they have vetted 6 applicants, the BOCC leans on that recommendation. He said diversity is a value and a 7 goal, and the question should be how to operationalize that goal. He asked if the Board 8 should be making appointments at work sessions to allow deeper review and discussion. 9 Chair Rich said she does not like to hurriedly make appointments at the end of 10 regular meetings, and likes the possibility of discussing them at a work session, and 11 appointing at a regular meeting. 12 Commissioner Dorosin said this process would give the Board an opportunity to 13 review the diversity, and ask the chair of the Advisory Board what type of recruitment they 14 did. 15 Commissioner Price said if an applicant of color applies, but is not recommended to 16 the BOCC, she would like to know why. 17 Chair Rich said the subcommittee will be Commissioners Dorosin and Price, who will 18 meet with David Hunt and Donna Baker. She said to be sure to take into consideration 19 ways to get the age of the applicant. She said the BOCC got a lot of accolades about 20 having an 18 year old on the Housing Advisory Board. 21 Commissioner Dorosin said the BOCC should ask the question about what an 22 applicant can bring to the board to help achieve the diversity goal. 23 Commissioner Marcoplos said he is always struck by the lack of young people, and 24 wants to get them involved. He asked if there is a reason to not ask an applicant's age. 25 Commissioner Bedford said it can be discriminatory. She said if it were up to her 26 she would not ask age, race, or ethnicity. She said there is a big social problem of trust, but 27 diversity is important. 28 Commissioner Marcoplos asked if the questions could be optional. 29 Commissioner Bedford said yes, but one will feel pressured to fill it out if it is on the 30 application. 31 Commissioner Dorosin said if the question asks age, then the BOCC just knows a 32 number. He said he would rather see the person who wants to bring the perspective of the 33 young person, and the Board must be cautious about reducing the application to any one 34 metric. He said asking the aforementioned question is more valuable. 35 Commissioner Marcoplos said he appreciates the point, but he would like to make it 36 easy to decipher the information. 37 Commissioner Dorosin said this can be addressed with the Advisory Board's 38 recruitment practices, and asking if recruitment is occurring in a variety of places (UNC, 39 Young Republicans, Young Democrats, etc.). 40 Chair Rich asked if there is a way to reach out to the current boards that are making 41 recommendations. 42 Bonnie Hammersley said staff support for each board leads the recruitment, and 43 would talk directly to the boards. She said she could attend these meetings, and talk about 44 recruitment. She said staff support calls Thom Freeman-Stuart in the Clerk's Office about 45 open seats. 46 Chair Rich summarized the following action steps: 47 • subcommittee should revise the application, including Commissioner 48 Dorosin's question. It should be kept to 2 pages, with links to further 49 information if necessary. 50 • consider changing the applications review to a work session. Let's keep the 51 application to 2 pages.