Minutes 05-14-2024 - Budget Public Hearing and Work Session

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14 Commissioner Hamilton said that it seems to her they should talk about the "why"first and then the impact on the public. She asked if they should be doing it at all before they get into"how." Commissioner McKee said he had watched a meeting when he was sick. He said he made a request to remote in on the school board joint meetings, he gave it little consideration, and it was an ill-advised request from this distance. He said it was not a business meeting and there were no votes to be taken and, in his mind, he said he was thinking that he would like to watch and if he had a question, he would have liked to be able to ask the question. He said that trying to change the rules to allow hybrid attendance gets very complicated. He said after reviewing all of the possible changes, he has decided that if it is not broken, it does not need to be fixed. He said everything operates smoothly and they are able to achieve quorum and the only time they had to do it was during COVID and it worked, but it still was not ideal. He said that he did not give the question enough consideration of long-term impact and now he is not a fan of changing the policy. Commissioner Hamilton said that she agrees with Commissioner McKee and that she does not see a benefit to this change. She said that they are an elected body, and they have a responsibility to the public to be in-person. She said that she started her commissioner career in COVID and she said she lost a lot by not having the in-person connection. She said they make decisions as a board and that it helps the cohesion when they are in person and together. She said if people are out for a reason, it does not change the impact if they miss a couple of times a year. She said that if the meeting is hybrid, if there is a technical problem, it would be frustrating trying to get the issue solved. Commissioner Richards said she likes the way they operate now. She said that they do not miss meetings often and she said that it would possibly incentivize them not attending if this is an option. Commissioner Fowler said she would have been okay working something out with allowing some remote participation and she was approaching that with curiosity around if she had to be out, and she wanted to attend to have questions, how that could happen. She said that she thinks it works fine the way it is and there is no need to change it. Commissioner Portie-Ascott said that she likes meetings in person. She said that she likes that they are efficient in their decision making. She said she wondered if that meant a commissioner could choose to always be remote and what that would mean for them. Commissioner Fowler said that if there were ever younger commissioners that had young children and they would need to hire a sitter to participate in person, then she would suggest that they reconsider the issue. Chair Bedford said technological glitches happen and they cannot be planned around. She said that her brother said to test logic, sometimes they examine the extreme. She said that he is in Michigan and several of the council members go to Florida for five months at a time and this created an issue. She said that she thinks they may need wording that says hybrid meetings are not allowed at this time because it could always be changed. She said that there could be a time when a person has a short-term disability, and they may need ADA accommodations. John Roberts said that this is not a job so he cannot speak to this for the commissioners. He said that if it were an employee, he can look into this. Chair Bedford said medical issues may come up in the future. Commissioner Portie Ascott asked if they can suspend the rules and allow remote participation. John Roberts said they can always suspend the rules, but he does not recommend that. He said that this could be a situation that would be appropriate. Commissioner Hamilton said that it is hard to predict the future and if there is a situation that is unusual, the Board can discuss at that time. She said that boards change, and people change. She said they may not be following their own rules currently and that they should go over them.