Orange County NC Website
DuBose asked and Marcoplos clarified that the Council was discussing the Chair as an <br /> elected official, and the Vice-chair as a community member. <br /> Kaufman said that for her co-chairs are better since the work divides equally. <br /> DuBose then asked whether we should shoot for an elected official and a non-elected <br /> official to be the two co-chairs. <br /> Monast said that the Council shoul make that a goal and not binding since there are so few <br /> elected officials who can participate regularly. <br /> Marcoplos agreed, saying that any elected official can chime in during a meeting and make <br /> their points. Having it as a goal to have an elected official as a co-chair is a good weighting <br /> factor. He asked for agreement that everyone thought co-chairs was the way to go and he <br /> received confirmation from Council members. <br /> Bouma then asked to clarify whether the Co-chairs would both cycle off at the same time. <br /> Richardson offered the idea of having staggered co-chairs, extending one of the terms by <br /> one year. <br /> Marcoplos and DuBose said that they liked that idea and asked if anyone disagreed. No one <br /> spoke up. <br /> Bouma then asked about the succession planning for student members and wondered <br /> whether he should reach out to AP Science teachers to try to identify a successor for Josh <br /> VanMater from Orange County Schools. <br /> Pitts said that it would be a good idea to ahead and reach out to teachers. <br /> Bouma said that students who were not moving on or had not yet moved on could continue <br /> in their roles. <br /> Bouma then shifted to comment on the upcoming online public event and Slade said that a <br /> potential speaker for the public event might be someone representing a place in the US that <br /> is leading in implementing emergency climate action. <br /> Kaufman mentioned that Rubinoff has strong ideas about this topic and the Council should <br /> get her feedback. <br /> Rubinoff then said she likes that proposal. A year ago, she had initiated contact with the <br /> coordinators of David Wallace Wells' speaking engagements and had started assembling <br /> funding to bring him in. At the time it fell through, but it might be easy to pick back up, and <br /> that he had recently tied climate change into racial equity and COVID issues. She was also <br /> thinking it could be helpful to link the elements of the event to any goals we might have for <br /> the event. <br /> Marcoplos said that this has been a good discussion and indicated his desire to ensure we <br /> take the opportunity to highlight the Council's own work and potentially have a separate <br /> event for a nationally renowned speaker. He then suggested that the Communications <br /> Committee take a first pass at outlining the event and then the Council could continue the <br /> discussion in future meetings. <br />