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29 <br /> 1 with. She said that this process is innovative and there is a lot of control from the executive <br /> 2 committee. She said that it has a unique mission and unique history. <br /> 3 Ashley Heger said it was modeled after the Partnership to End Homelessness. She said <br /> 4 that is why the executive committee has so much power and that design was also what the <br /> 5 citizen group gave up to gain more structure, resources and support. She said they still wanted <br /> 6 to maintain the connection to values and communities they work with. <br /> 7 Commissioner Fowler asked how the chair and co-chairs are elected and how long their <br /> 8 terms are. <br /> 9 Ashley Heger said there is a process every 1-3 years where people nominate <br /> 10 themselves or others to become co-chairs on the Food Council. She said the Food Council <br /> 11 votes. She said that the co-chairs choose the duration. She said that comes back to the <br /> 12 community they work with and that there are no paid positions on the Council, and this is <br /> 13 essentially free work provided by the members. She said who has the privilege to volunteer their <br /> 14 time. She said they are still grappling with available free time. She listed the co-chairs since <br /> 15 2020 and said they were all nominated and elected by their peers and get to decide if they serve <br /> 16 a 1-3-year term. She said they will be updating bylaws at June meeting and will provide to the <br /> 17 Board. <br /> 18 Commissioner Fowler asked why 5 years for the MOU. <br /> 19 Commissioner Greene said the model from the Partnership is 5 years. <br /> 20 Ashley Heger said Chapel Hill wanted 2 years in 2019 but all other entities agreed with <br /> 21 five. <br /> 22 Commissioner Fowler asked if this was something that is needed forever, or if there <br /> 23 would be an endpoint to the work. <br /> 24 Ashley Heger said she would love to work herself out of this job. She said that she thinks <br /> 25 it will be needed longer than she hopes. She said that there are other models besides a Food <br /> 26 Council Coordinator and it can be measured to see what is working. She said that Durham <br /> 27 created a food access coordinator in Cooperative Extension. She said they are only dealing with <br /> 28 access, not system-wide organizing or dealing with farmers. She said that she works closely <br /> 29 with them and has drawn them into the TJCOG space because you can't separate those issues. <br /> 30 She said that from the beginning, it has been said that housing cannot be left out of food <br /> 31 access. She said that it is not just one coordinator's work. She said that the work could be <br /> 32 disbursed because there is more work than one person can actually do. She said that more <br /> 33 strategic alignment across all departments would likely be beneficial. <br /> 34 Commissioner Fowler said that is true for a lot of the different work the county is doing <br /> 35 and that most of them have some overlap. She said that is kind of the point— do we continue to <br /> 36 make special projects or do we start working to bridge the overlap. <br /> 37 Commissioner Hamilton said it is hard in this current iteration to be clear what the targets <br /> 38 are and that it is too much. She said there is not the ability to be effective by getting the data <br /> 39 and homing in on the work. She said she is concerned about the effectiveness and how it is <br /> 40 currently designed. She said she wants to see the data to see what would make sense. <br /> 41 Ashley Heger said the coordinator position was originally created to coordinate <br /> 42 community spaces to align with the Board's social justice goals. She said she could help <br /> 43 convene the impacted community members and bring that back to the Board. She said that at <br /> 44 one time she was once coordinating a food access group and a food waste group and then they <br /> 45 cut back and decided to only focus on the local food economy and food access. She said that <br /> 46 nationally, as well as in other countries, all are grappling with what the correct metrics are. She <br /> 47 said it is about capacity building within the organization. She said that data is important but is a <br /> 48 flattened piece of information and the question is how to move beyond simplified data while also <br /> 49 embracing that there is knowledge and wisdom beyond it. She said Commissioner Richards and <br /> 50 Commissioner Greene came with her to visit a couple of farms and hopefully can do more of <br />