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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20090414 APPROVED 5/5/2009 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION April 14, 2009 7:00 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Work Session on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. at the Link Government Services Center in Hillsborough, NC. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Valerie P. Foushee, Vice-Chair Mike Nelson and Commissioners Alice Gordon, Pam Hemminger, Barry Jacobs, Bernadette Pelissier, and Steve Yuhasz COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: Geof Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. Chair Foushee asked to add to the agenda the process of hiring an interim County Manager. The Board agreed to add this item. 1. Discussion on Board Operations and Regular Meetings Laura Blackmon said that during the retreat process, the Board discussed Board operations and the Order of Business for regular meetings, with the goal being to increase efficiency. The Board agreed to begin discussion with Attachment B Attachment B Recommendations for Streamlining Board Meetings and Use of the Consent Agenda (From November 2008 retreat) Timing of meetings 1. Change start time for meetings from 7:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This has already been implemented 2. Eliminate the mandatory adjournment time Commissioner Hemminger said that currently it is the policy that if one member wants to adjourn a meeting, then the meeting ends. She asked for clarification. Chair Foushee said that, in the past when the meeting started at 7:30 p.m., at 10:30 p.m. a Board member had the option to adjourn the meeting. What has happened now, since the meetings have been moved to 7:00 p.m., is that the adjournment time appears to be 10:00 p.m. Laura Blackmon said that she tries to remember to tell the Chair what items have to be discussed and what items can wait. Chair Foushee asked if the Board wanted to eliminate the mandatory adjournment time and Commissioner Jacobs said that if it says, "Mandatory adjournment time at 10:30 p.m., unless waived by unanimous consent," then it would be ok. He said that he has always had mixed feelings because it allows one Board member to be involved in the discussion if he/she needs to leave, but it also allows one Board member to stop the Board in its tracks. He thinks that the 7:00 p.m. start time is better. The Board agreed to keep the mandatory adjournment time at 10:30 p.m. unless there is unanimous consent to continue the meeting after the adjournment time. 3. Hold occasional daytime work sessions (to ease burden on staff and others of evening commitments) Commissioner Yuhasz said that this is a good idea, but has not received much support. He suggested looking at something quarterly to see how this would work. Commissioner Gordon said that she would like for the Board to try and work smarter and make better use of existing meetings time before adding daytime meetings. Commissioner Hemminger said that there have been so many meetings lately; it would be difficult to try and find a quarterly meeting during the daytime. Chair Foushee said that she would not like to hold a daytime meeting unless all County Commissioners could attend. She would not like for a Commissioner to have to choose between work and elective duties. Commissioner Nelson said that holding meetings during the day limits the people that can run for this office. He said that he would not be able to attend a meeting during the day. Commissioner Gordon agreed with Chair Foushee. Chair Foushee said that rather than say the Board would never do that, as the Board changes, there may be changes on this subject. Commissioner Yuhasz said that as long as there is no policy against holding day meetings, then the option remains open. He suggested deleting this one. The Board agreed to delete this item. Commissioner Jacobs pointed out that some people work at night and have conflicts with night meetings. Chair Foushee agreed and said that the Board should be considerate of certain schedules. 4. Limit amount of time each commissioner can speak on an item to minutes. Chair Foushee said that the three-minute limit has been working for Board comments. Commissioner Gordon said that the Board should try and work smarter to better utilize meeting time before limiting time to speak. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he may want to speak longer on one subject than another and it would be hard to time. He suggested relying on each Commissioner to be attentive to time. Commissioner Jacobs said that all Commissioners should look to the Chair for timing issues. Commissioner Hemminger said that the Chair should give a gentle reminder. The Board agreed to have the Chair give gentle reminders about time limits for County Commissioners when they are speaking. Review the purpose and use of "Board Comment" section of the agenda. Determine time frame for Board comment period. Commissioner Jacobs suggested leaving it to the discretion of the Chair or Vice-Chair for when to move the Board Comment section up on the agenda. Commissioner Pelissier said that she has never been clear on the purpose of Board comments —to inform the public or each other. Commissioner Gordon said that the purpose has been to make announcements and also to inform the other County Commissioners of things. She said that she likes the Board Comments at the end. She said that if there were announcements, they could be given to the Chair ahead of time for the beginning of the meeting. Commissioner Hemminger said that she likes announcements by the Chair at the beginning of a meeting and she enjoys sharing information through email with her fellow Commissioners. Commissioner Nelson said that it helps him if a County Commissioner is bringing an item up under Board Comments that he knows it ahead of time through email. Commissioner Nelson said that if a Board member is making a directive to staff or some sort of action, it should be done in the form of a motion so that it is clear to staff and other County Commissioners. Commissioner Jacobs said that the County Commissioners do not do a good job of informing each other of their individual boards and commissions. He said that emails are great for informing the Board about questions about agendas but he finds it useful to hear from other Commissioners about their reports from their boards and commissions. Commissioner Pelissier agreed and suggested having a placeholder for advisory board reports on the agenda. Commissioner Gordon said that the Board Comment period should not be used to initiate action. Commissioner Yuhasz said that there are very few opportunities for the County Commissioners to have a conversation with each other except during Board Comments. He would like to have these opportunities from time to time. The Board agreed that the Board Comment period will be left at the end of the agenda, with the announcements at the beginning. Each County Commissioner will have three minutes to speak. 5. Set aside a separate Board meeting and time for ceremonial business Commissioner Yuhasz said that a separate meeting is not needed, and this does not have to happen at every meeting. He would like to have some meetings where there is no ceremonial business. Commissioner Hemminger said that people enjoy coming to a meeting to receive awards in front of a group. She suggested moving it along within 20 minutes. Commissioner Nelson said that there is a difference between awards and proclamations and he and the Chair have been steering the proclamations toward the consent agenda. He suggested that the awards stay as is. Commissioner Gordon said that the key is to limit the amount of time. Chair Foushee said that the boards are happy with having these on the consent agenda and she has heard that the boards like a Commissioner to come and read the proclamations at their event. Discussion ensued on the types of groups that should be recognized. Laura Blackmon said that if there is an event that a County Commissioner could take the proclamation to, then that would be preferred and it could be on the consent agenda, but if someone or a group is being recognized, then it could be during the ceremonial section of the meeting. The Board agreed that there would not be a separate Board meeting for ceremonial business. Communication 6. Determine how to use technology to communicate in a timely and cost effective manner 7. Provide the public with a synopsis of both work session and Board meetings that identify the matters discussed and the decisions made Commissioner Hemminger said that information is not getting to the community and the cable channel is not working in this respect. Regarding streaming videos, a lot of people do not know how to work this. Laura Blackmon said that there has been discussion between the Managers about everyone in the County using the same channel. If this were the case, there could be a small staff that could coordinate the agencies to use this one channel. Commissioner Yuhasz said that with the changes in cable TV, the County will have less control over cable and the best bet is to look at technology such as web streaming and a separate channel. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Strategic Communications Plan from 2000 that he distributed to the County Commissioners. This addresses these same concerns. He said that the County has no organized way to look at emerging technologies. Commissioner Hemminger said that it would be a good idea to go with something that is proven to work in other North Carolina counties and implement something now with the web streaming. The County Commissioners asked for a demonstration of this web streaming software with a proposal and costs. Commissioner Gordon said that eventually there has to be a plan. For now, she suggested focusing on transparency and how the public can know what the County does. She suggested having agendas that are complete and correct posted a certain amount of time before each meeting, having announcements or news releases that explain controversial or complicated items, having the ability for the public to watch County Commissioners'meetings at a certain time, and having a short summary of important things that had happened made available to the public soon after the meeting had ended. Deputy Clerk to the Board David Hunt explained how the Granicus software worked. Laura Blackmon said that the price for Granicus is $50,000 for the first year and yearly it is $20,000 for the licensing. Chair Foushee said that a report on this program, along with considering the four items that Commissioner Gordon brought forward would be a way to move forward immediately on communication issues. Commissioner Jacobs does not want to lose having an organized plan for emerging technologies. Commissioner Foushee suggested having an agenda item to task a group to do this. Commissioner Pellisier said that she has heard that Onslow County does not have to contract out for the minutes because of this program, and it saves money. Also, she suggested asking advisory boards for suggestions on this topic. Laura Blackmon said that she has a committee, which includes Economic Development, Information Technology, Planning, and the Assistant County Manager to figure out how to take advantage of some of the stimulus money. Clerk to the Board Donna Baker said that the towns still use transcribers because of the nature of this area and the boards wanting more minutes than just the motions. David Hunt said that there are area organizations, Public Information Officer type groups, which share some of the tools that are being used with success. There is a North Carolina Government Information Officer organization that has a lot of information. Discussion ensued about the things that are already being done, such as the agenda items with the action taken being on the website. Concern was expressed that the public does not know about these things. Laura Blackmon said that the bottom line is that someone has to be dedicated to doing all of these things all of the time. Commissioner Jacobs said that there was someone in the Manager's Office at one time that was supposed to be doing these types of things, but it never came to fruition. Laura Blackmon said that staff will come back with a report on Granicus and the four items as suggested by Commissioner Gordon above. 8. Board members will acknowledge receipt of a response from staff to their(the board member's) request and staff will acknowledge receipt of emails from BOCC. This is currently being done. 9. Board members to check emails from the County at least every two days. The Board is currently doing this. Meeting Management 10. Board members will come prepared for the meeting by bringing printed materials with them so staff can avoid making wasteful, duplicate copies. Laura Blackmon said that they are doing better with this and Commissioner Yuhasz said that he still gets duplicates. Chair Foushee said that she encourages people to take items with them, and they do not, and because staff does not know who took their materials and who did not, they have to make enough copies for everyone. 11. Document and clarify how Board members direct staff to undertake work. Staff will provide the Board with background information, analysis, suggestions, pros/cons of issues, especially on difficult issues. Staff will also suggest a preliminary direction in order to help narrow the board's focus and help set a clear work plan for staff. Chair Foushee said that this has been an issue for awhile. Laura Blackmon said that the last page is a policy for guidelines for requesting information by Board of County Commissioners to staff. Commissioner Gordon said that staff does not always provide the Board with sufficient background information in their agenda materials. It would be helpful to have standards on providing background information. She said that the Board gets incomplete items too many times. She believes that the Board should not have to ask for these things. Commissioner Nelson said that, generally speaking, the Board is getting better agenda items, pros and cons, and recommendations from staff. The problem areas are where agenda items are so confusingly presented that the County Commissioners are unable to process information. He suggested that the Manager, the Clerk, and the Assistant to the County Manager look at these items before they are sent out to the Board to see if they are clearly written. He said that the public thinks that the Board is trying to hide something from them because some of the things are so hard to understand. Commissioner Jacobs said that he thought this was what agenda review was for and Commissioner Nelson disagreed. He said that the County Commissioners were not elected to review people's writing styles. He said that it would take hours to go through every item and rewrite the agendas. Commissioner Jacobs said that he elected the Chair and the Vice-Chair to serve in the capacity of reviewing the staff's work. Commissioner Nelson said that he and Chair Foushee do go through the agendas and point out some questions that will probably be asked by specific Board members, but they do not have time to read the entire abstract. Commissioner Pelissier said that the reality is that what may not be understood by one person may be understood by another, and what someone sees as important questions, others may not see as important questions. She thinks that the only thing the Manager can do is look at some of the questions and patterns and attempt to address them in future items. Laura Blackmon said that she is looking at having someone come in to help staff with writing skills and making sure that what is written is understood by the County Commissioners and the public. Chair Foushee said that it would seem to her that when questions are raised that require a lot of staff time, it would be helpful if the Manager could say to the Board that they cannot devote time to this or pull the item from the agenda. Chair Foushee said that if the Manager knows that these types of questions have been asked and they are not going to be answered in a timely manner in order to make a decision, then something different needs to be done. She would propose that the items be pulled if the County Commissioners do not understand enough to make a decision. 12. Items that require Board action will be clearly delineated on the agenda. This is currently being done. 13. Explore how Board members get items on the agenda and prioritize them for action Chair Foushee said that some items are directed by the Board of County Commissioners to the Chair and the Vice-Chair to be placed on an agenda, and that information is communicated to staff. Sometimes the Board is told that the items are to be put on an upcoming agenda. Commissioner Jacobs said that there is no organized way other than Board comments or from the Board of County Commissioners to staff at a meeting. Discussion ensued about items that the public bring up during public comment at the beginning of the meeting. Commissioner Pellisier said that it would be helpful when County Commissioners make a request for an agenda item that there is a response as to whether the Board wants it on an agenda and, if so, a potential timeframe for it. She also suggested having a document with the upcoming major agenda items. Laura Blackmon said that there is a long-range agenda calendar and it is a working document, although not a complete list. Commissioner Gordon said that the timeline for agenda items is very important. She made reference to the CIP and the library plans and asked why these items were not received in a timely manner and why they were not tracked. She said that the County needs a better way of tracking items that are important to the Board of County Commissioners. She thought that the County Commissioners got things on the agenda by sending a request to the Chair and the Vice-Chair. Chair Foushee said that she did consider the formal request for the library item and it has been put on the May 5th agenda. Commissioner Nelson said that he would prefer that Board members bring up items to be put on the agenda during Board Comments so that everyone can hear what is being asked. He is not comfortable with responding to just one Board member. Commissioner Nelson made reference to the long-range agenda and said that he would like for the County Commissioners to get from staff a quarterly calendar of what is coming up on agendas for the next three months, with the understanding that this is a draft and things change. Commissioner Jacobs said that it seems like the Board is evolving into more of a formal model and requesting things with a motion instead of everyone just agreeing. Commissioner Gordon said that the Board rarely gets to Board Comments, so this will not be a good way to get things on the agenda. Chair Foushee said that the request could be sent to the Chair and the Vice-Chair, with an email to other County Commissioners to see if they want it on the agenda. Commissioner Pelissier said that it cannot be done as a group email because of the open meetings law. The email would have to be sent individually. Commissioner Yuhasz suggested that two people make a request for an item to be on the agenda, otherwise, the agenda will be too large. The process should be more formalized. Geof Gledhill advised that the County Commissioners avoid having email conversations because of the open meetings law. Commissioner Nelson said that he would like to be as transparent as possible, and he would like the preferred mechanism to get items on the agenda to be during Board Comments, and the second choice to be County Commissioners sending an email to the Chair and the Vice-Chair, copying other Board members in case there are objections. The Board agreed. Removing Items from Consent Agenda 14. If Board members require information or have general questions, they will contact Laura, Greg, Donna B. and cc Melissa by email by Monday at 12:00 p.m. before the regular Tuesday meetings. 15. Set criteria for deciding whether or not to pull an item off the consent agenda: Current criteria include: a. Board member believes an item needs more research or discussion b. Board members want to postpone vote Laura Blackmon said that if people know the director who wrote the abstract, it would help to include them in the email. Commissioner Gordon said that the "email on Monday" deadline should only apply if the packet is received on time. 16. Place reappointments to boards and commissions on the consent agenda. This is already being done. 17. Move pulled consent items and place at the end of the Consent Agenda. This is already being done. Chair Foushee asked for any other items that the Board wanted to discuss. Commissioner Jacobs said that if there is a scheduled meeting that is canceled due to no items, especially for a joint meeting, before staff issues an announcement about the cancellation, the Chair and Vice-Chair should be given the opportunity to decide whether or not to cancel the meeting. The Board agreed that the Chair and Vice-Chair would be notified before a joint meeting is cancelled. Chair Foushee made reference to page one of the abstract, #3, "A potential overall time limit for the Not on the Printed Agenda' Public Comments portion of regular meetings; or in the alternative a maximum number of speakers for this portion of the agenda." She proposed that this be limited to one hour and the Board agreed. Chair Foushee made reference to #6 and #7 — "A potential limitation on speakers for a regular meeting agenda item who have spoken on the same item at a previous regular meeting"; and "A potential limitation on speakers at a Budget Public Hearing who have spoken at a previous Budget Public Hearing." Commissioner Jacobs said that he would propose limiting the speakers on the budget public hearing items. Commissioner Gordon asked what happens if something has changed thereby affecting what a person has to say. Commissioner Jacobs agreed and said that this is why he suggested limiting only for the budget public hearing. The County Commissioners agreed to have the Chair mention at the budget public hearings that people not speak more than once. The Board agreed to leave items #6 and#7 alone and not place these limits. Chair Foushee made reference to #5 — "A standard response time for staff to follow up with a member of the public who, during the Not on the Printed Agenda' Public Comments portion of the agenda, submits an inquiry which is tasked to staff to respond." Laura Blackmon said that a month is the standard, generally. Commissioner Pelisier said that the member of the public should have direct contact, with the information given or telling them that the item is going to be on the agenda. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he would like for the Board to know that the public has received a response. 2. Recruitment Process for Interim Manager Chair Foushee said that the Board needs to talk about recruitment and there needs to be a closed session for submitted applications. Chair Foushee said that there are four other candidates and the candidates are waiting to hear from the County Commissioners to see if a resume should be submitted. Commissioner Gordon said that she would like to see all resumes. She asked what the closed session would be about. Chair Foushee said that she thought that the Board would consider the applications and resumes to determine whether to go further into background checks, etc. Commissioner Jacobs said that the qualifications would be considered in closed session. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Hemminger to ask the additional candidates to send resumes, and to ask the candidates for references after the resumes are reviewed. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to set the closed session for April 30th at 7:00 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 3. Adjournment A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Yuhasz to adjourn the meeting at 10:09 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Valerie Foushee, Chair Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board