Minutes 09-10-2024 - Work Session

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26 3. Review of BOCC Proclamations The Board reviewed the proclamations that have been approved by the Board of County Commissioners since 2016. BACKGROUND: The Board of County Commissioners requested that staff create a 12-month calendar of proclamations for possible inclusion on future Business meeting agendas. Chair Bedford introduced the item. She said that this stemmed from a request for priority proclamations to not fall through the cracks and be forgotten. She said that the process for adding proclamations has fallen to the position of the Chair. She said she would like to discuss the purpose of proclamations and review the list of proclamations from 2016. She would like to make sure that the proclamations that are priorities for the Board are added to agendas. She said that they need to decide if those proclamations should be read aloud at the meeting or be put on consent. She said they should talk about requests from the public for adding proclamations. She asked if those who request should reside in Orange County. Commissioner Richards asked what does it mean for the county to approve a proclamation. She asked if departments should be part of a proclamation and have planned activities. She asked what is the purpose of a proclamation. She asked if it would be a useful activity during the work session to go through the list. Chair Bedford said she thought they could identify the priority proclamations during the meeting. Commissioner Fowler said that if the county has planned activities around a proclamation, they should be prioritized. Vice-Chair Greene said that she thought that they should still remain receptive to the community and their interests. Chair Bedford thought that some of those proclamations should be on consent, but any of those could be pulled from consent. Commissioner Richards said if there are certain proclamations that they will do every year, they should be planning ahead. Commissioner Hamilton said the purpose of a proclamation can fall in a couple of categories. She said a proclamation could fall into an advertisement for a county event or activity, but that could be done without a proclamation. She said another reason is that a proclamation might reflect the views of the Board. She said that a third reason is that a proclamation might recognize a larger community and the importance, or something that's about safety that the county wants to emphasize. She said that agendas can be long, so they still have to keep some proclamation items brief. Chair Bedford said that for some proclamations, it emphasizes how much they value staff. Commissioner Portie-Ascott said it is good to acknowledge different events. She asked how the Board approves proclamations being developed. Chair Bedford said that the Chair and Vice-Chair review each proclamation. She said there are no standards, and that is the dilemma. Commissioner McKee said that proclamations can burn up a lot of time during a meeting. He said proclamations are celebratory and a way for the county position its priorities and publicly broadcast them. He said the more that they have, the less impactful they are. He suggested it be pared back to one or two a month. He said he would like to see it tied to department activities and something the county is specifically doing. Vice-Chair Greene said that on the next meeting's agenda there will be a proclamation on family literacy. She said that the county has provided funding to the organization. She said when there a group that is aligned with the county's mission asks for the proclamation, she supports that. She said that the requestor wrote a draft and it was refined by the County Manager's Office.