Agenda - 09-20-2022; 8-a - Minutes

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5 1 Commissioner Bedford said she has been in Orange County for around 30 years, and 2 has been on the Board of Commissioners for 3.5 years. She said one of her guiding principles is 3 to make decisions based on what is good for residents rather than what is good for re-election. 4 Commissioner Richards said she has lived in Orange County for 10 years next month, 5 and has been on the Board since September 2021. She said one principle she follows is to be 6 well informed on all aspects of an issue before making a decision. 7 Commissioner McKee said a principle he uses is to remember that collaboration is 8 critical to moving forward on any issue. He said there have been things during his last twelve 9 years on the Board that he's not been willing to collaborate on or make accommodations for, but 10 those are few and far between. He said that this current Board is extremely collaborative. 11 Commissioner Fowler said she is a lifelong North Carolinian, and has lived in Orange 12 County for 30-some years. She said she has been on the Board for 1.5 years and was on the 13 Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board before that. She said she is a pediatrician, so most of her 14 focus is doing what is best for kids. As for a principle that guides her, she said her son has 15 autism and she talks with him about perspective taking all the time. She said she tries to 16 understand where people are coming from and the position they are taking because of it. 17 Commissioner Greene said she moved to North Carolina 35 years ago. She said she 18 has been on Board for about 3.5 years, and served on the Chapel Hill Town Council before that. 19 She said when she first ran for office, her priority was helping people with the least resources 20 among us, those who need help the most, and she still tries to govern by that principle. 21 Commissioner Hamilton said she has lived in Orange County for 21 years. She has been 22 on the Board for 1.5 years. She said she makes decisions by understanding both sides of an 23 issue and understanding the long-term implications vs. the short-term and accepting that there 24 are trade-offs and then justifying those trade-offs. 25 Chair Price said she has been in Orange County for 30-some years, and has been on 26 the board for 10 years. She said a principle that helps her govern is listening to everyone to 27 understand their concerns and values. She said she and Commissioner McKee have done 28 listening sessions in the past and it's helpful to understanding what is behind people's 29 viewpoints. 30 Bonnie Hammersley said she has been in Orange County as County Manager for 8 31 years. She said her guiding principle as the County Manager is to inform not influence the Board 32 when making decisions. 33 Travis Myren said he has been in Orange County as Deputy County Manager for 7 34 years. In working with the Board he said he tries to provide the Board the best information 35 available along with a detailed analysis to help them make decisions. 36 Lydian Altman said this conversation sets the tone for discussing how to do this work 37 together in the best possible way. She said the Board has staff and department directors who 38 also work hard to provide information so they can make decisions in an informed way with 39 various perspectives in mind. 40 Commissioner Richards said she believes that this Board works well together, so she is 41 surprised that they will be spending half the day discussing and working on Board relations. She 42 said she thought they would work more on strategy and planning. 43 Commissioner Bedford said the planning committee was unsure if Board members 44 wanted to strategize, but did leave time for that as well. She said she agrees that the Board 45 does work well together, but believes there are small things that can be worked on the make it 46 even better. She said the committee believed the retreat was really the only available time for 47 that discussion. She added that due to the delay of the retreat, some of the initial items that 48 were proposed for discussion were already talked about at work sessions. 49 Lydian Altman said she agrees with Commissioner Bedford's understanding. She said 50 what she heard from the planning committee was that the Board does work well together, and 51 there are always ways to improve to be an even higher performing board. She said there is only