HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 09-20-2022; 8-a - Minutes 1
ORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: September 20, 2022
Action Agenda
Item No. 8-a
SUBJECT: Minutes
DEPARTMENT: Board of County Commissioners
ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT:
Draft Minutes (Under Separate Cover) Laura Jensen, Clerk to the Board, 919-
245-2130
PURPOSE: To correct and/or approve the draft minutes as submitted by the Clerk to the Board
as listed below.
BACKGROUND: In accordance with 153A-42 of the General Statutes, the Governing Board
has the legal duty to approve all minutes that are entered into the official journal of the Board's
proceedings.
Attachment 1: June 23, 2022 Retreat
Attachment 2: August 1, 2022 Special Meeting
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with this item.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: There is no Orange County Social Justice Goal impact associated
with this item.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There is no Orange County Environmental Responsibility Goal
impact associated with this item.
RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends the Board approve minutes as
presented or as amended.
Attachment 1
1
1 DRAFT MINUTES
2 ORANGE COUNTY
3 BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
4 RETREAT
5 June 23, 2022
6 9:00 a.m.
7
8 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for their annual Board retreat on Thursday,
9 June 23, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. at the Bonnie B. Davis Center in Hillsborough, NC.
10
11 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Renee Price, Vice Chair Jamezetta Bedford,
12 and Commissioners Amy Fowler, Sally Greene, Jean Hamilton, Earl McKee (attended
13 virtually), and Anna Richards
14 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: None.
15 COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: John Roberts
16 COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Bonnie Hammersley, Deputy County Manager
17 Travis Myren, and Deputy Clerk to the Board Tara May. (All other staff members will be
18 identified appropriately below)
19 FACILITATOR: Lydian Altman, UNC School of Government
20
21 Chair Price called the meeting to order at 9:05 am.
22
23 Commissioner McKee was present via Zoom.
24
25 Welcome
26 Chair Price welcomed the attendees and thanked the planning committee and
27 department staff for their work in making the retreat possible. She thanked the facilitator Lydian
28 Altman for being present and spoke about the opportunities available through the UNC School
29 of Government for commissioners.
30 Lydian Altman thanked Chair Price for speaking about the school of government and
31 agreed there are many opportunities for Commissioners to learn more, including virtual options.
32 She said she is glad to be present after the retreat was initially delayed.
33
34 Overview and Discussion Guidelines
35
36 Lydian Altman reviewed the following PowerPoint slides:
37
Orange County Board .
Commissioners Retreat
Thursday,June 23,2022
9:D0 am to 4:DD pm
QUV C Center far PublicMLeadershrp and Governance
38
39 Lydian Altman said she prepared slides to help guide the Board's discussion. She
40 reviewed several flip chart sheets with various headers to hold the Board's thoughts and ideas
41 from the discussion, and said she will be keeping thematic notes as well.
2
I.ETTING STARTED
• Ovel
Dsscuaslon Guidelines
• Introductions&Fyl
'Mill�
4
1
2 Lydian Altman shared that she works with the School of Government, and her area of
3 expertise is strategic planning. She also said she has been doing facilitation for a long time. In
4 addition to the opportunities through the School of Government for commissioners, she shared
5 that there are also professional opportunities for staff in county government.
Today We Intend to;
A. To strengthen relationships and begin building a high performing board
by considering what elements would help this board perform at their
best.
Develop a set of operating principles and behavioral changes that help
guide how the council wants to work together and with senior staff
(see handout)[Deliverable]
8 To explore how"Article 46� proceeds could be reallocated
Identify the process by which the decision for reallocation would be
made, [Deliverable]
C To review progress towards the county's goals,consider whether
changes are needed, and hear about best practices in strategic
planning.
Create list of reaffirmed andfor up-to-date goals. [Deliverable]
6
7 Lydian Altman said that these were the three big topics for today's retreat, but they
8 would be addressed in a different order. She said the primary goal is to discuss strengthening
9 relationships. She said when the retreat planning first began, the Board was not meeting in
10 person and the planning committee wanted to discuss how the Board can operate better
11 together, become a high-performing Board, and govern the most efficiently and effectively.
12 Lydian Altman said the intention behind the Article 46 proceeds discussion is not to get
13 down into the details as much as what are the criteria if the Board would like to make changes.
14 Lydian Altman said reviewing the Board's goals will be in between the other discussions.
15 She said there are many different goals from previous Boards, and this is an opportunity to
3
1 catch everyone up to how the goals came to be, how they are being used, and think about the
2 effectiveness, relevance, and importance of the goals. She said she will give a brief
3 presentation about best practices in strategic planning, and then the Board can use the best
4 practices in thinking about their own goals.
5 Lydian Altman said there will be discussion on next steps related to each of these topics.
Guidelines for Effective Meetings
`
Balance �T' OKAY1'�
�,tic advocacy withIT'S
Inquiry
Share all relevant information
EXPLAIN Agree on what
YOUR "important' words
REASONING mean
6 ,I
7 Lydian Altman went through examples of the "Guidelines for Effective Meetings" on the
8 slide above, and encouraged the Board to follow the guidelines for today's retreat.
what will help YOU move
scale of Aglr�etnent
rur;hesr in[c>Ihe,yr+ren?
Pate your Incrivldual level of support For thIs Ideaftoplc:{Issue, We're using a spectrum to
gauge support,not a cote of YES or NO
C
�+f'Yen ar voem4ot with significant concerns ntinued strong
ement
the most aspects of the or outright disagreement with
�. proposal, and, disagreement with proposal
despite camp hued sam4 of IN 41SW ms
concerns wn soma of the proposal but
elem"ts, will not op"the
wlhlrVrW$$to go acdom ar d"Wott
along with the ("standing aside"M.
prupwwl-
Of oil members of the gaup are at levels a-, thea there is some
degree olcowerws.
9 ]l
10 Lydian Altman reviewed the "Scale of Agreement" on the slide above.
4
UA*of Agr��m nk
Mature of disagreements?
• Minor concerns with wording or editing,
•Agreement with the main thrust of the proposal, but concerns with
specific elements which, if changed, would lead to agreement.
Mayor concerns: principles disagreement with the overall direction of the
proposal, which if not addressed, would lead the member to block the
consensus (level D)-
Source: Hustedde, Srnutko, and Kapsa, Turning Lemons Wo Lemonade
(o-d-)
1 l
2 Commissioner Greene asked how the scale will be used throughout the discussion.
3 Lydian Altman said she may ask the Commissioners to stand up at the end of the day to
4 see where they stand and what it may take to move from a position of disagreement to
5 agreement, if applicable.
6
7 Introductions and Getting Started
8 Lydian Altman guided introductions and posed the question "As you've settled into your
9 role, what's one principle that's emerged to help you govern?"
Introductlons
1 Name, length of residency
here,tenure on the Board or
with the County
2. As you've settled into your
role, what's one principle that's
OOVEKN emerged to help you govem?
10 ��
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
6
1 a short conversation on goals, which worries her a little bit because there is so much there to
2 talk about, but this is an opportunity to think about the work at hand around the goals, because
3 there isn't a lot of time to dive into the goals themselves.
4 Commissioner Hamilton said she actually doesn't think the Board works well together.
5 She said in order to accomplish more, spending time talking about how to operate better
6 together will help. She said the Board gets along well, but can be more effective and efficient in
7 getting information and addressing the many issues the Board has to deal with.
8 Lydian Altman asked if there was any interest in changing the order of the agenda or the
9 time allotted for each discussion.
10 Commissioner Richards said she believes the reason for any issues in working together
11 or navigating is because the Board doesn't have a full understanding of their goals. She said
12 she thought the Board would spend more time talking about that. She said as a new person,
13 she's always looking at how things are connected, the outcome, the history, the long-term look.
14 Lydian Altman said she felt there was a desire from the committee on what to do with the
15 goals as well because the Board has a lot of important things to do, but they also wanted to
16 balance how well the Board works together in order to get that important work done.
17
18 What next for `Article 46' Allocations
F History
Information
ARTICLE ' Guidance for making the
decision about changes
• Next Steps
19
20 Lydian Altman reviewed the plan for this discussion topic. She asked Travis Myren to give
21 an overview on the history of Article 46 allocations.
22 Travis Myren said Article 46 was adopted by referendum in 2011 and came to the ballot
23 in 2012. He said the question on the ballot was straight forward, but there was a resolution
24 adopted by the Board at the time that split the proceeds to schools facility and technology needs
25 at 50% and economic development at 50% over a 10 year period. He said the money is
26 allocated to the school systems based on average daily membership (ADM). The Board
27 reviewed the agenda attachment titled "Article 46 Uses by Type of Obligation". Travis Myren
28 said that the document was created by Steve Brantley, Economic Development Director, and
29 Economic Development staff. He also explained the difference between items with obligations
30 versus items that are discretionary.
7
1 Commissioner Richards said when Article 46 first passed she understood that there was
2 a commitment to economic development. She said she has heard people say the tax was
3 originally passed for economic development.
4 Travis Myren said economic development was not part of the ballot question, but all of
5 the information publicized at the time discussed Economic Development and the schools, so
6 there was some context.
7 Commissioner Bedford asked what the legal ballot said.
8 Travis Myren said the ballot read "For or against local sales and use tax at a rate of 0.25
9 of a cent in addition to all other sales and use taxes".
10 Commissioner Bedford asked if it said what the proceeds would go to.
11 Chair Price said no. She explained there was a debate about being more specific on the
12 ballot, but they were told they had to be limited in the wording. She said the community
13 promotion for the tax was specific about what it would be spent on.
14 Chair Price asked if the Board needs to do another resolution for the next 5-10 years.
15 Travis Myren said he thinks this discussion is for the Board to decide next steps.
16 Commissioner Bedford asked if there are any limitations on what the tax can legally be
17 spent on.
18 Travis Myren said he will find that out.
19 Commissioner Hamilton said she has been wanting to take a look at Article 46 and have
20 a process for determining if the current 50-50 division between education and economic
21 development is appropriate. She said there are significant needs for school facilities and the
22 funding is limited, this money was specifically designed to promote both economic development
23 and school needs. She asked if it is time to rebalance the split in light of the need. She clarified
24 that she does not think the Board needs to decide this now, but should determine what process
25 to take to get feedback from the community on this.
26 Commissioner Greene said when she reviewed the list of where the money is going for
27 discretionary items, she said she believes $5,000 could be moved here or there, but they are all
28 worthy causes that she would want to fund another way in the budget. She said when reading
29 the agenda attachment "Overview of Orange County's Key Economic Development Programs,
30 Expenditures & Return on Investment Measures Tied to Article 46," there is a lot of bang for the
31 buck. She said the money is already being spent on what the community wants.
32 Commissioner Fowler asked where the funding for these programs came from prior to
33 Article 46.
34 Travis Myren said prior to the adoption of the tax, the economic development programs
35 didn't exist. He said the Economic Development Department funding was moved to Article 46
36 during the pandemic, but used to be funded by the general fund.
37 Bonnie Hammersley said they were following the model of the visitors' bureau when
38 making that decision, which is funded by occupancy tax.
39 Commissioner Bedford said she appreciated receiving more information on this during
40 budget discussions. She said she agrees with Commissioner Greene that there are a few things
41 that could be changed, but to still fund them would be a quarter cent tax increase. She said as
42 much as she wants to provide more money for schools, she doesn't want to spend more time
43 looking at this. She said she really wants to get the sewage done North of 1-40 in Efland, which
44 will increase the debt. She said they are fortunate that some companies like Thermo-Fischer are
45 coming in and are not asking for incentives. She said she is surprised that even with all the
46 development, the gross tax revenue is $3 million. She said they have got to diversify the tax
47 base. She said right now unemployment is so low and there are a wider variety of jobs paying at
48 or above living wages. She said she doesn't want to spend the time to do community outreach
49 and the whole process it would take to split $2 million. She said she would rather continue to
50 focus on economic development and work with the schools boards to get more funding, but the
51 way to raise revenue is more revenue through economic development. She said there she
8
1 thinks there are some items being funded with Article 46 proceeds that the Board could provide
2 direction on, but views it more as the job of the County Manager. She said if the Board does
3 strategic planning, then the use of the proceeds and the budget can be tied to it.
4 Lydian Altman said from the comments, she's heard two things; first, does the Board
5 want to revisit this, and if so, what might a process be for doing that. She invited others to
6 comment.
7 Commissioner McKee said he believes the Board knows his opinion on Article 46. He
8 said he heard a question about what the county did for economic development before Article 46,
9 and the answer is the county did nothing and got nothing, to the point that the state did not refer
10 companies to Orange County because it was considered a waste of time. He said he believes
11 the vote on Article 46 went before the voters with the understanding that 50% would be spent on
12 economic development, though this Board or a future Board can change that. He said since this
13 money has become available, the economic development picture in Orange County has
14 radically changed, and he credited a lot of the change to Morinaga taking a leap of faith and
15 developing here. He said a goal should be to continue attracting businesses that fit, which
16 includes having money to do it, and the only way to do that is to use Article 46 proceeds, or
17 raise taxes.
18 Commissioner Richards said her buzzword as a new commissioner is responsible
19 development to encourage and support a strong safety net. She said there cannot be a strong
20 safety net without economic development. She said it's because of all the county needs that she
21 would like even more funding to go to economic development. She said there is a lot of bang for
22 the buck with money going toward economic development. For example, she said $2 million for
23 economic development can go a lot further than $2 million going to schools compared to the
24 much larger amount of money the schools actually need.
25 Chair Price said she thinks they funding for both economic development and education
26 is important. She said she has seen a lot of growth since the county dedicated money to
27 economic development. She said this special sales and use tax has helped take some of the
28 burden off of the property tax base. Chair Price said having more economic development can
29 provide a foundation for other things to happen like community development and more funding
30 to schools. With that said, she also acknowledged that the schools need more funding. She
31 asked if the Board would like to update the Resolution passed in 2011 to determine what to do
32 for the next 5-10 years.
33 Commissioner Hamilton said it is okay to hear disagreement because this is a good
34 example of money the Board uses automatically but doesn't stop to look at even though the
35 resolution said it would be reviewed in 10 years. She said it demonstrates how there aren't
36 processes in place to review and follow up on past decisions. She said she hears the point
37 about the benefits of investing in economic development, but schools are also an economic
38 development issue because they are one of the things that draws businesses and people into
39 the community. She said schools are at a tipping point where Orange County may not be as
40 attractive as surrounding communities due to the schools, which will have an impact on
41 economic development. She thanked staff for the detailed breakdown of revenues from
42 different economic development projects. She said she was surprised to see how little return
43 some projects are providing now, but understands there will be greater return in the long run.
44 She said it's important to think about this when determining what to invest in now vs. later, and
45 with schools and children there is an impact that cannot be quantified in the data provided. She
46 said there is no information on the return on investment in schools, no information on the
47 benefits to the community from the county's investment in schools. Further, she said the
48 information does not include the cost of economic development to the community like increased
49 traffic or costs to schools. She said the Board isn't seeing the full cost benefits and to keep that
50 in mind. She clarified that she is not saying the investments in economic development are not
51 needed.
9
1 Lydian Altman said it doesn't sound like there is an appetite on the Board to go through
2 a process to change the allocation at this point. She said she hears some commissioners
3 expressing concern for the quantification of benefits that are not reflected in the materials and
4 how that impacts the return on what is invested.
5 Chair Price said she takes issue with the materials not showing any of the benefits. She
6 said when Steve Brantley comes to the Board with a project, he reports back periodically about
7 the incentives, the tax revenue over time, the jobs created, etc. She said the information might
8 not be as granular as Commissioner Hamilton is thinking, but the Board does receive some
9 feedback on investments.
10 Commissioner Hamilton said she agrees with Chair Price that they have seen those
11 benefits, but her point is the Board doesn't see the full picture of benefits that schools provide,
12 or some of the costs involved with economic development.
13 Commissioner Richards asked if the Board could receive a scorecard on economic
14 development. She said she thinks this would help the Board, as well as community members,
15 see the full impact of economic development. She said the county had one of the largest job
16 growth numbers in the state this year, but this type of information is not widely known or
17 advertised. She proposed a quarterly or biannual report that would demonstrate the benefits of
18 economic development investments.
19 Lydian Altman said she wrote down "visible scorecard to demonstrate benefits for
20 economic development, schools, and community at large" on the "next steps" sheet.
21 Commissioner Richards said she thinks schools is a separate topic.
22 Lydian Altman identified another next step from the discussion of potentially reaffirming
23 the resolution from 2011.
24 Chair Price proposed the Board do this in September since it has already been ten years
25 since the last resolution.
26 Commissioner Bedford said there is another potential next step of looking into how to
27 identify costs of economic development.
28 Commissioner Fowler said those are typically called externalities.
29 Lydian Altman summarized the three identified next steps.
30 Chair Price said externalities are typically some of the trade-offs of development.
31 Commissioner Hamilton read a portion from the county website regarding Article 46 and
32 school funding allocations. She asked if Article 46 proceeds have been calculated out of the
33 county's allocation to schools.
34 Travis Myren and Bonnie Hammersley said only the general fund allocation is calculated
35 in the county's school funding percentage.
36 Lydian Altman asked if Commissioner Hamilton would like this to be part of next steps.
37 Commissioner Hamilton said when the Board reaffirms the resolution, she would also
38 like to make sure that this is included.
39 Lydian Altman asked if there were additional ideas for next steps, or if staff needs
40 additional direction.
41 Travis Myren said externalities are tough because they are difficult to monetize.
42 Commissioner McKee asked what is meant by externalities, because he thinks this word
43 might be vague or have differing understandings for residents.
44 Commissioner Fowler said it is the cost to the community.
45 Commissioner McKee said using the phrase "cost to the community" would be clearer
46 than externalities to residents.
47 Lydian Altman said this is a great example of being clear on what important words mean.
48 Travis Myren added that the County Attorney, John Roberts, confirmed there are no
49 limitations on Article 46 funding.
50
51 The Board recessed for a break from approximately 10:10 am until 10:20 am.
10
1
2 Commissioner McKee did not return to the meeting via Zoom following the break.
3
4 Before jumping back into retreat topics, Bonnie Hammersley introduced Cy Stober, the
5 new Planning and Inspections Director.
6 The Board reviewed the agenda attachment titled "ARTICLE 46: Overview of Orange
7 County's Key Economic Development Programs, Expenditures & Return on Investment
8 Measures Tied to Article 46"
9
10 Check in on Goals and Guidance
• History
• Progress
CHECK-IN ON GOALS AND • Changes to content,
GUIDANCE process, use?
Strategic Planning=
Purpose, Practices,
Considerations
• Coals as Guidance
Next Steps
t�
11
12 Lydian Altman reviewed the purpose of this conversation listed on the slide above.
13 Travis Myren said the Board has a handout of the goals that were adopted by the Board
14 in 2016, which was the last time a comprehensive discussion took place on Board goals. He
15 said the social justice goals (approved in 2015) and environmental goals (approved in 2019) are
16 included on every agenda abstract. He said page 27 of the retreat packet shows the priorities as
17 discussed at the previous year's retreat and how all departments have made efforts to
18 implement the priorities.
19 Lydian Altman said the Board should never lose an opportunity to celebrate progress,
20 and asked what they are proud of when reading through the work the county has done, or even
21 something not on the list.
22 Commissioner Bedford said one of the big things she is proud of was transitioning to
23 Alliance as the county's MCO, and also leading the state in COVID-19 vaccines.
24 Commissioner Greene celebrated the county's broadband initiative.
25 Chair Price shared her view that the goals need to be reviewed because they are
26 reflective of the values of a different board at a different time.
27 Lydian Altman said one of the questions for the Board to decide is what to do with the
28 goals, but would like to continue to celebrate some of the accomplishments before that
29 discussion.
11
1 Commissioner Richards said it is amazing and impressive that there are 10 pages of
2 accomplishments to begin with, and the COVID response by itself crossed over so many areas.
3 She said almost everything is significant. She also commented that she has sometimes
4 struggled to connect an item that comes to the Board with the social justice goal or
5 environmental goal that is listed on the abstract. She said since the goals are from 2016-17, the
6 Board needs a process that includes strategy, goals, and the process to update the goals, and
7 how that ties into the departments in order to update them.
8 Chair Price said there was no strategic plan and there was push back because past
9 boards did not want to do strategic planning, but this Board does. She said by not doing this,
10 interconnectedness is missed.
11 Commissioner Bedford said she was shocked to learn during her orientation that the
12 Board at the time did not have a strategic plan because she is used to having that, including
13 having the community's input. She said strategic planning is expensive and if the strategic plan
14 is only looked at once a year it is a waste of time and money. She said she took a class on
15 strategic planning before the pandemic and heard from other elected officials who use strategic
16 plans and tie it to their long range planning and budgeting to it. She said there are initiatives the
17 county is working on now that a strategic plan would help tie together. She said they need to
18 know how to make it a living document.
19 Bonnie Hammersley said it is correct that there were people opposed to strategic
20 planning on the Board in the past, but when she came to the county, she used a different term
21 and called it goal setting. She said as County Manager, it is important to know what the goals
22 and priorities of the Board are and if some are required by law. She said the goals are helpful
23 and helped accomplish everything that has been accomplished thus far. She also said she
24 budgets based on the goals of the Board. She said the executive team shares what
25 departments' responsibilities are within those goals and how to work towards them. Bonnie
26 Hammersley said she doesn't think the county has been operating blind, but it would be helpful
27 for the Board to regularly review and update the goals. She said the county is still the safety net
28 for the most vulnerable and still has to fund schools, but it would be helpful for additional goals
29 to be updated. She said she thinks this is the proper forum to develop a plan for this update and
30 review. She also shared that each department has a strategic plan to guide how each
31 department administratively functions in order to meet the Board's goals.
32 Commissioner Greene said she appreciates the clarification, because she did not think
33 she was on a board that did not have goals. She said the goals that are in place is how the
34 county has achieved all that it has. She said she is not as heavily invested in the idea that the
35 Board has to have a "strategic plan," as long as they know what their goals are.
36 Commissioner Fowler said she can see both sides. As a realist, she doesn't like wasting
37 time and doesn't want to do something just for branding. She said when seeing the budget, it is
38 clear that the departments have goals, but she thinks it would be helpful for a central set of
39 goals to guide the Board. She said these could be informed by the goals and plans the county
40 already has in place so as to not reinvent the wheel, but said she agrees with Commissioner
41 Bedford's earlier point that community input on the goals and planning is important.
42 Commissioner Hamilton said in her experience, she understands the hesitation of putting
43 in significant time for a strategic plan, but believes goals are not enough. She said the goals are
44 broad and do not show how the board will strategize and prioritize in order to achieve each goal.
45 She gave an example of how school facilities are not meeting the needs of students, but is not
46 listed as a priority. She said strategic planning for her is getting beyond goals that the Board
47 doesn't operationalize because they're broad. She said the Board is at the point now where they
48 are going to have to make trade-offs in decision making. She said they can have an efficient
49 strategic planning process, but believes they need something beyond goals.
50 Commissioner Bedford said it gives the Board the opportunity to apply the GARE
51 principles to the plan, which would help the Board with each of their decisions.
12
1 Chair Price said it is possible for strategic planning to be done across a longer or shorter
2 time period depending on the Board's direction and approach. She said while she likes the
3 goals, they are more like vision statements. She said having the bare bones of a strategic plan
4 would help new commissioners coming on, and would also help the community understand
5 where the county is and where it's going. She said the strategic plan has to be a living
6 document, but can at least provide some direction to departments and others.
7 Commissioner Richards said there are many ways to do strategic planning, and it can be
8 really detailed or not. She said she sometimes hears that there was some Board at some time
9 that said a future Board could never touch xyz, like the rural buffer. She asked how this impacts
10 and limits the Board for planning for the future. She said these past decisions and goals are tied
11 to broad strategies that guide what the departments are doing. She said the other complication
12 for her is how advisory boards and their goals and priorities all tie in.
13 Lydian Altman reviewed what notes she took on the Board's "Goals" sheet, and
14 summarized what she heard from the Board. She asked if staff has anything to add.
15 Travis Myren said the degree of community input and the Board's goal for the strategic
16 plan would determine how long it takes, associated costs, etc.
17 Lydian Altman agreed with Travis Myren.
18 Travis Myren said it would be easy to convene the Board and for staff to ask the
19 strategic questions and get direction, but the community engagement part can be more
20 complicated depending on the Board's desires and direction.
21
22 Lydian Altman resumed the PowerPoint presentation:
Why Man?
Pnaifize Be clear about priorities
Alla Allocate resources
SENT towards those priorities
°"°g• Manage performance to
carry Gaut the funded
programs
• Evaluate performance in
terms of objectives
23 ��
13
Benefit,, to WDur orqanlrallion
Transforms ideas into actions
Provides guidance
Aligns resources with
community values for the
future
Aligns core government
functions with -desired
strategies
Common challenges In moving strategic planning to meaningful action
failing to engage stakeholders or use
their feedback
developing goals that are vague. too
numerous to manage, and not prioritize-d
....... .......... J
using watered-down SMART oblier-Uves,
failing to identify cross-cutting goals and
G OP A2 budget requests
using inappropriate benchmarks and
performance measures
underestimating resource requirements
unwillingness to evaluate im*mentabon
ia n d take corrective steps
14
plarlhing Model
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2
Strategic Manning Principles
Engagement
Facilitative Leadership
Shared Learning
Flexibility
Accountability and Transparency.
3
4
15
$LACCessfol efforts
Use discretion
Incorporate flexib-ility
F Keep it simple
• Align and link to ether
organizational efforts
Organizational Values
* Employee Engagement &
�ausfaatlon.
* PrIorlly Lased Budgeting
Team Building &Silo&usting
Employee Fertonnance
Evaluation
1 �I
2
Using strategic. plans
Benchmarking
in+g
Performance Evaluation
Budgeting/Resource Allocation
Internal and External Communication
Citizen Engagement and Education
Employee Orientation
3
4
16
BenchawMng
Cho-ose key measurementsto,
track as indicators of
achievement
2
Worrmance Evaluaiiion
{ Assign-ntion steps to specific
staff to ensure and track the
progress of implementation.
3
4
5
17
SudgethqfROS,Otircs AMoution
* Make decisions to invest
resources in such a gray to I
further the priority goals.
OU
1 'I
2
intornai an-1 ExtA�rnai Communicatians
* Usethe 'format of the plan as e
tool for repearting progress to
others
i
3 ,I
18
Chien Entemt and Edulone
Create opportunities for citizens to
hear information and provide input
Co elher the creation or
implementation of the plan 1
1 4 ■
2
F-qjp143yee Orioutalion
* Use the pian to recruit and orient
new employees lay explaining
what the organization is working
towards. as wall as how each
person will contribute to making
progress through specific goals
and action steps
3 it
19
Your PlanW ngl Effort., Re loctlon Questions
Why do you want to Tara?
How will things he different?
— What's the scope of your plan?
Who has a stake In'the Plan?
Flow will you use and share your plan"
Who leads what's
Haw much will you temmiP
2 Commissioner Hamilton said this information has been helpful to see. She said she feels
3 even more like the Board should do the strategic plan. She said the visioning part of this is
4 important because some of the issues she is always bringing up about education, and what she
5 hears others bringing up about economic development, might be 20 years down the road. She
6 said it brings the question of what they want the community to be like in the future, what are the
7 limits to growth as far as water and other infrastructure, how many businesses are needed to
8 help get ahead. She said she thinks about these things, but not in a way that would be helpful to
9 planning.
10 Lydian Altman said these are great visioning questions for the elected body and
11 community to consider. She added that the vision should be 20 years out, but the detailed
12 planning should address the next 3-5 years.
13 Commissioner Richards said the aging population and other demographic changes is
14 important to consider when looking towards planning for the future. She said receiving this type
15 of information from staff would be helpful.
16 Lydian Altman said the county's new Planning Director would have some good data and
17 projections to help the Board ground their decisions and planning in the context of Orange
18 County.
19 Commissioner Hamilton said the aging demographic doesn't surprise her because of her
20 experience as a social worker. She asked the question of how many people are coming into the
21 community that are older compare to the number of people already here who are aging and how
22 much the Board should accommodate the influx. She said the issue is who is going to take care
23 of the aging population if there is no room for younger people to live here.
24 Lydian Altman said the Commissioners have identified important questions for the
25 visioning process.
26 Chair Price said this discussion validates that the Board is on the right track. She said
27 that things have changed even since the goals were adopted six years ago, and she has been
28 to conferences where there was discussion on the influx of people and the landscape changing
29 all across the Charlotte-Greensboro-Raleigh-Durham beltway. She said everything is changing
30 so much so quickly that the county has to be prepared for the needs that are coming. She said
20
1 there are people coming into the state for a variety of reasons, and is relevant to keep in mind
2 for short-term and long-term planning.
3 To Chair Price's point about how quickly the area is changing, Commissioner Bedford
4 said the strategic plan has to be a living document. She asked if there is a way for the strategic
5 plan to center on Orange County, but also keep the surrounding region in mind.
6 Lydian Altman said that would be a decision for the Board to make, and would be a
7 smart decision because of the connectedness of Orange County and the rest of the Triangle.
8 Commissioner Greene said the Orange County Transit Plan will be revised in the fall,
9 and is very much a call for land use planning and transit planning. She said even the towns
10 don't do a good enough job thinking about that, and in a discussion about a growing population,
11 the towns have to be included. Commissioner Greene said she would not support expanding the
12 rural buffer and just because the idea is 20 years old does not mean it's a bad idea. She said it
13 is more worthwhile than ever because it supports the idea that population needs to be centered
14 on areas where there can be public transit and there are advantages to having a rural part of
15 the county. She said the population growth should happen in the towns, so the county needs to
16 communicate with the towns about more connected planning. She shared that at a TJCOG
17 meeting, the executive director talked about doing a much better job of connecting regionally
18 about these issues. She said one issue is that not all counties are like Orange County in terms
19 of values and priorities so it will always be a challenge, but in a changing environment it's
20 important to think about how to target and manage the growth. In reference to comments about
21 an aging population, she noted that Orange County has an excellent master aging plan.
22 Commissioner Fowler said she is in favor of developing a strategic plan for many of the
23 reasons mentioned. She said it is clear that many things have changed, especially throughout
24 the pandemic, and priorities have changed. She said the increase in mental health needs is an
25 issue, and it is time to update the priorities and include the community's input and what they
26 value. She said she appreciates Commissioner Greene's point about combining land use with
27 transportation planning, because even if each department has its own great plan, there may
28 need to be more collaboration between departments.
29 Commissioner Richards said it would make sense to take pieces of things like the
30 master aging plan and the transit plan and not re-invent the wheel for the strategic plan. She
31 said she recalls there are around four consultants working on other plans for the county as well.
32 Bonnie Hammersley said operational planning is different than strategic planning, which
33 is related to policy. She said the plans Commissioner Richards is talking about inform staff how
34 to operate underneath the broader strategic plan.
35 Commissioner Richards asked if the master aging plan would be something to consider
36 for the strategic plan.
37 Bonnie Hammersley said that is also an operational plan for the Department on Aging.
38 She said the COVID recovery plan would be an example of an outward focused plan, while
39 most of the plans the county has are inward focused on how to operate to meet the outward
40 need.
41 Lydian Altman said there may be other plans even at a regional level where it's
42 important to synthesize and pull out information and determine implications for the strategic plan
43 during the planning process.
44 Chair Price said the Board should be looking at policy rather than operations because it
45 can't interfere with what the departments are doing. She said updating the comprehensive plan
46 12 years ago was a very involved process that included a lot of people, and that's not something
47 the Board should get deeply into.
48 Lydian Altman agreed that is the Board's role. She said that envisioning is the heavy
49 part. She referred to the below slide:
50
21
Planning Mo4oi
ti L`.11lgil � .
rn.il! f q
iW flaai (6Y1.3
- maWwre" 4cdan Plans -
leg
2 Lydian Altman said envisioning is a heavily involved Board process that includes
3 community input, while enacting and evaluating is done more on the staff level with a limited
4 role of the Board.
5 Commissioner Richards asked how the comprehensive plan will work.
6 Bonnie Hammersley said Cy Stober and the Planning and Inspections Department will
7 lead the comprehensive plan development.
8 Commissioner Richards said she is trying to understand how all of the different things
9 connect, like the UDO and the comprehensive plan. She also asked if there is a visioning
10 component of the comprehensive plan.
11 Bonnie Hammersley said from a policy standpoint, the priorities from the Board would be
12 broad, such as identifying schools, housing, and economic development. She said there are
13 specifics to the priorities to some extent, but not to the level of what staff is doing. She said it is
14 her role to make sure staff and departments are working together to ensure the goals of this
15 Board.
16 Chair Price said the Board might identify affordable housing as a priority, but it's not their
17 role to identify potential lots for housing.
18 Bonnie Hammersley said in the recommended budget presentation she would show the
19 Board the resources and the plans for the resources in support of their stated priorities.
20 Chair Price said the comprehensive plan helps determine where affordable housing
21 would go, whether there are services connected to the areas, zoning, etc.
22 Commissioner Hamilton said she also finds it difficult to understand how the different
23 pieces of operational plans work together. She said she and other Commissioners also don't
24 have a clear idea on the policy set by past boards. She said part of the issue is there isn't time
25 at a normal Board meeting to fit all of the pieces together with the rest of the agenda items. She
26 said she would like for there to be time, perhaps at a work session, to look at everything at
27 once, see the big picture and understand how everything connects as part of the strategic
28 planning process. She said she finds things are piecemeal and it is hard to track.
29 Lydian Altman said for next steps she's noting a graphic representation of what plans
30 are currently out there and what pieces may be relevant to the Board. She said this would be
22
1 the type of thing to put in an RFP to have someone help sort out. She shared that TJCOG has
2 begun doing strategic planning services.
3 Commissioner Bedford said doing the visioning and comprehensive planning will inform
4 one another.
5 Chair Price said the previous comprehensive plan was focused on a set of goals that
6 previous Commissioners had at one time.
7 Commissioner Hamilton said the comprehensive plan is a policy and operational
8 document and the UDO is the details.
9 Lydian Altman said it seems like the Board would like to pursue a strategic plan. She
10 asked if the Board wants to bother looking at the current goals, knowing that these will be
11 reviewed and revised in the strategic planning process. She said to her the questions they might
12 want to think about is if the goals are still relevant, if they overlap, and if there are other
13 emerging issues to add based on current priorities.
14 Commissioner Richards said it seems possible they can use the existing goals as a
15 guide and starting place during the visioning process.
16 Commissioner Bedford said she doesn't know enough to move forward with writing an
17 RFP for this.
18 Bonnie Hammersley said staff would handle that part.
19 Lydian Altman asked the Board to consider the extent of community engagement they
20 want for this process as well as what parts of the process and what they are hoping to gain from
21 it.
22 Commissioner Fowler asked Lydian Altman to expand on what strategic planning
23 resources TJCOG is offering.
24 Lydian Altman said she isn't sure exactly what they offer at this time.
25 Commissioner Greene said TJCOG has helped smaller communities with fewer
26 resources create strategic plans, hire managers, etc. She said she will ask for more information.
27 Chair Price asked if the School of Government did strategic planning for state agencies
28 as well.
29 Lydian Altman said yes, the School of Government is available to do this as well. She
30 said they work with county and state agencies.
31 Commissioner Hamilton said it has been a while since the county has fully engaged the
32 community and coming out of COVID and given recent events, there is an opportunity to
33 educate and engage. She said the engagement should be significant and meaningful, which is
34 the hard part.
35 Lydian Altman asked Commissioner Hamilton to elaborate on what she means by
36 "meaningful."
37 Commissioner Hamilton said the county has struggled with community engagement and
38 COVID has complicated things further. She said that meaningful engagement to her would
39 mean hearing from a significant diverse group of people. She suggested they would probably
40 need some metrics about the demographics they want to try to target and hear from, and
41 develop ways to track progress.
42 Lydian Altman said sometimes what is possible comes down to cost. She said one
43 county the School of Government worked with had fewer resources so they developed a training
44 for employees in the health department who then held community engagement sessions at fire
45 departments as well as larger community forums.
46 Commissioner Hamilton said a new community engagement position was just hired.
47 Lydian Altman said cost can also depend on what capacity the county already has to
48 take on some of the work internally vs. hiring a consultant.
49 Commissioner Richards said advisory boards can be used a mechanism for community
50 engagement by having them reach out to their respective communities and networks. She said
51 this is also a way to advertise and recruit advisory board members.
23
1 Chair Price added it is also important to engage advisory board members because their
2 work should be relevant to that of the Board. She said this would be a good check and balance.
3 Lydian Altman asked staff what questions would be helpful to have answered during this
4 discussion.
5 Travis Myren asked to revisit the questions on the slide below:
Your Planning Von:ReMeacn Questions
Why do you want to plan?
Haw will things be dlfferenf?
What's the scope of your plan?
Who has a stake In the plan?
How will you use and share your plan?
Who leads what?
pv, nm..n wnuacansaarner`y�
Haw much will you commit?
6
7 Lydian Altman said one of the quesitons about scope would be whether it is community
8 focused or internally focused. She said she believes the Board would like it to be community
9 focused.
10 The Board agreed.
11 Lydian Altman said that then raises the engagement question in a big way. She said for
12 "who leads what", they discussed the type of role the Board may have vs. a consultant vs. staff.
13 She noted that this also raises the issue of capacity again for what the county will be able to
14 take on interally.
15 Commissioner Fowler asked what staff feels its capacity is for getting community
16 feedback vs. consultant.
17 Bonnie Hammersley said she would recommend a consultant.
18 Commissioner Hamilton asked for the cost range for a consultant and some examples of
19 processes that are 6 months vs. a year.
20 Lydian Altman asked if the Board would like a performance management component for
21 the example. She said a strategic plan framework with minimal community engagment is
22 $50,000-$70,000. She said performance management is a big question mark.
23 Bonnie Hammersley said Durham is currently doing transit planning with very broad
24 community engagement and they are spending half a million dollars. Bonnie Hammersley said
25 the county did focus groups rather than full community engagment for the recovery plan and the
26 total cost was $250,000 between the county and towns.
27 Travis Myren asked if the Board was looking for fully community organization, like going
28 out directly to the community.
29 The Board said not necessarily, and Commissioner Bedford said she liked the idea
30 Lydian Altman shared about the engagement sessions at firehouses.
31 Lydian Altman said there are a lot of ways they could approach community engagement
32 including surveys, large forums, or focus groups like they did previously. Bonnie Hammersley
33 said the county got a lot of grief over the recovery plan not being far reaching enough and
24
1 surveys were conducted, there were focus groups, etc. She said it can be done that way, but
2 everyone will need to understand that it will not yield full community participation.
3 Travis Myren reiterated that the have been told they didn't do enough outreach with that
4 approach.
5 Bonnie Hammersley said during the recovery plan a lot of people didn't want to
6 participate in focus groups even by Zoom and didn't want to complete a survey.
7 Commissioner Hamilton said this outreach was also during COVID.
8 Bonnie Hammersley reiterated that this outreach was still conducted electronically. She
9 said in her experience in county government, it is the forgotten government. She said since it is
10 the safety net, not everyone knows about what the county does.
11 Chair Price agreed with Bonnie Hammersley and said despite trying to provide education
12 on county government, many people don't pay attention unless taxes are raised. She also
13 asked how heavily they should rely on departments to help with outreach because policies will
14 impact the work they will do and they have a good idea of what is out there.
15 Lydian Altman said she agreed, and she would recommend starting with a context
16 setting which would include department directors.
17 Commissioner Fowler asked Lydian Altman for an estimate on a strategic plan that
18 includes performance management.
19 Lydian Altman said she can't remember exactly, but it was around another $50,000
20 which included helping departments operationalize the performance management piece.
21 Commissioner Greene said she volunteered to talk to TJCOG about strategic planning
22 services they offer, but she doesn't have enough information yet about what the Board is
23 looking for to get specific responses.
24 Bonnie Hammersley said she will talk to TJCOG.
25 Commissioner Bedford asked what the survey that was given out at the DSS Toy Chest
26 was for.
27 Travis Myren said that survey helped inform One Orange.
28 Commissioner Bedford said that really worked and could be done again.
29 Chair Price asked when the Board's goal was for completion.
30 Commissioner Bedford said she would like it to be less than a year. She said she wants
31 to be streamlined if possible, and limiting some of the community engagement would be okay
32 for now because it is a living document and should be reviewed annually.
33 Lydian Altman said she would recommend annual review as well, or at least every other
34 year to evaluate any needed changes. She said another scope issue would be assessing
35 organizational values and how they guide the organization and employees, as well as how to
36 communicate. She said the plan can be used to drive culture. She said the plan is critical, but
37 the process is just as important.
38 Chair Price said as the plan is promoted, it gives an opportunity for people to be
39 involved.
40 Lydian Altman said in addition to the number of operational plans the Board discussed
41 earlier, there are likely a number of engagement plans developed already as well that could be
42 incorporated.
43 Commissioner Richards asked Lydian Altman for a realistic timeline.
44 Lydian Altman said she thinks this could get done in 9-12 months.
45 Chair Price said she thinks this should be done before the next budget cycle.
46 Commissioner Richards said she thinks visioning should be done by the spring.
47 Lydian Altman said she thinks it's possible.
48 Commissioner Hamilton said part of how they work as a Board is how they manage their
49 time. She said they normally have the retreat in January and it would be conducive to work on
50 planning during that time, but that would set them back on the desired timeline if they waited
51 until then. She suggested the Board determine if there are work sessions where these
25
1 discussions should take place, but mentioned that may mean that other vital work doesn't get
2 done this year.
3 Chair Price said the work session topics are decided based on issues brought up by
4 Board members and it is possible to prioritize strategic planning. She shared that the existing
5 goals were done in one session with no community input.
6 Commissioner Richards asked during what meeting the goals were decided.
7 Chair Price said the Board at the time discussed the goals during a retreat and started
8 by brainstorming goals and then narrowing them down.
9 Lydian Altman said that was a starting point.
10 Commissioner Bedford suggested engaging groups and community leaders the county
11 already works with to help with community engagement.
12 Commissioner Richards said it could be a combined approach with both advisory boards
13 and known community organizations and connections participating in community engagement
14 forums. She also suggested getting input and engagement from the towns. She said if they start
15 by engaging groups they already work with, that would be more effective than sending out
16 surveys. She said they might want to also conduct surveys like the one at the DSS Toy Chest
17 Commissioner Bedford mentioned.
18 Chair Price said she thought engaging through the census was also good.
19 Lydian Altman said she wrote down "input throughout the year using existing
20 opportunities" as an action.
21 Commissioner Bedford said she knows it will be a lot of money, but since so much has
22 changed, including the Board, she thinks it is time to put forth the money and time for a strategic
23 plan.
24 Lydian Altman said she also captured from the conversation that one of the ways to use
25 the plan is to guide topics for discussion.
26 Commissioner Hamilton said she would like to include performance measures for
27 ensuring priorities are met and there is good stewardship of taxpayer money. She said they will
28 need to develop metrics to measure that.
29 Lydian Altman said she's not sure what metrics the organization already uses that might
30 be able to be included, and it's important for the Board to pick a few items to track that is
31 relevant to them. She said she will organize the notes she has been writing about the direction
32 they have given and what they want to see and get them back to the Board. She said she
33 captured that Bonnie will talk with TJCOG as a next step and asked if there are any other next
34 steps coming out of this discussion.
35 Commissioner Bedford said to start drafting an RFP. She said seeing a draft will help the
36 Board further narrow what they are looking for since this is their first time doing this.
37 Lydian Altman asked what the timeline for the RFP is.
38 Bonnie Hammersley said she will likely will not talk to TJCOG since it's possible they
39 could respond to the RFP. She said staff will just start the draft to protect the integrity of the
40 process.
41 Travis Myren said there are examples the Board can draw upon and suggested it could
42 be ready in September.
43 Commissioner Richards asked if there is a way to scope the RFP to get responses on
44 different levels of performance measures and community engagment.
45 Bonnie Hammersley said they can do alternates on the RFP.
46 Commissioner Richards said that would be helpful.
47 Travis Myren said he could also just send the Board some examples of similar RFPs
48 over the summer break.
49 Commissioner Bedford asked Lydian Altman to go back to the slide with the strategic
50 planning pitfalls.
51 Lydian Altman went back to the following slide:
26
Common c,hallonges In moving strategic planning to moaningful aecUon
Biling to engage stakeholders or use
their ideedbacks
developing goals that.are vague,too
numerous to manage, and not priorltizerl
using wagered-down SMART o*cbves
failing to identify cross-cutting goals and
budget requests
using inappropriate benchmarks and
perfounnce measures
underestimating resource requirements
unwillingness to evaluate implementagon
and take+corrKtivesteps
1 �
2
3 The Board recessed for lunch from approximately 12:00 pm until 12:50 pm
4
5 Moving Towards Board Excellence
6
MOVING TTOWARDS BOARD
EXCELLENCE
IL
7
8 Lydian Altman reviewed an attachment titled "Paired Interviews: High Performing
9 Teamwork", which will guide the paired interviews between Commissioners. She asked the
10 Board to break into groups and review the following questions:
11
12 1. What are the qualities in your existing governing team that most foster enthusiasm,
13 information sharing, and collaboration towards common goals? (existing assets)
14 2. Describe the best, most successful teamwork that you have ever seen or been a part of.
27
1
2 a. What was it about that team's activities that caused you to define them as high
3 performing? (definition)
4 b. What were all the conditions that allowed that winning teamwork to emerge?
5 (enabling factors)
6 3. What can you do to foster winning teamwork at an even higher and more consistent
7 level with this governing team? (activities to move towards high performance)
8
9 The interview pairs were Commissioner Hamilton and Commissioner Richards, Chair
10 Price and Commissioner Bedford, and Commissioner Fowler and Commissioner Greene.
11
12 Lydian Altman asked the Board to report out from their groups.
13
14 In response to Question 1 above, the Commissioners shared the following:
15 Chair Price said Board members are respectful even when they disagree.
16 Commissioner Greene said Commissioners have a willingness to listen.
17 Commissioner Fowler said everyone is polite in response and shows civility.
18 Commissioner Bedford said the Board is frank, open, and honest, meaning they are
19 comfortable and like each other enough to call each other to talk, and share perspectives and
20 reasoning in a way that is honest without politics.
21 Commissioner Greene said this helps avoid a waste of time.
22 Commissioner Bedford said it also helps build trust
23 Lydian Altman suggested it could build a sense of reliability in what you can expect from
24 each other. She asked for other qualities.
25 Commissioner Fowler said they are all passionate and caring.
26 Commissioner Greene said all Board members value information, objective data, and
27 research.
28 Commissioner Bedford said everyone comes to meetings prepared.
29 Commissioner Fowler said they all share a fairly common philosophy.
30 Commissioner Greene added they have a baseline of progressive values.
31 Commissioner Hamilton said the Board is supported by staff and supportive of staff.
32 Chair Price said they all show a commitment to the work and are non-punitive.
33 Commissioner Fowler said they all practice transparency in the values they hold.
34
35 In response to Question 2a above, the Commissioners shared the following:
36 Commissioner Richards said the highest performing team she has been a part of was
37 when there was a clear specific objective. She said there was a diversity of strengths and they
38 were leveraged so that people were bringing different things to table and there was elasticity in
39 the way the work is being done.
40 Lydian Altman added that everyone got to contribute.
41 Commissioner Richards said there was leadership in the sense of clear communication
42 that came from a designated person. She said leadership matters and part of that is
43 communication. She added that relationships and leadership is inherently different on an
44 elected body vs. a work or hierarchal team, so some of what made the latter type of team high
45 performing may not be applicable to them.
46 Lydian Altman added that the tone was set by leaders.
47 Commissioner Hamilton said on the team she is thinking of, there was a clear process
48 for what to do in response to different situations and problems.
49 Lydian Altman summarized that as "consistency of processes and known procedures".
50 Commissioner Bedford said one quality that came to mind is that the group kept to the
51 mission. She said they were focused on stopping something but also preserving different things.
28
1 She said they were respectful to one another, were passionate, and had a newsletter which is
2 related to Commissioner Richards's point about communication.
3 Lydian Altman added that a newsletter also relates to regularity.
4 Chair Price said she and Commissioner Bedford also talked about team members
5 having respect for each other and the community. She said they also sought input from
6 stakeholders, held community meetings, and looked out for everyone that was involved.
7 Lydian Altman added that planning ahead is important.
8 Chair Price said members of the team she has in mind also did their homework and
9 covered all bases.
10 Commissioner Greene said the high performing team she has in mind had a clear focus
11 on a common goal and had people with diverse strengths to move toward the goal. She also
12 said members had an openness to solutions.
13 Commissioner Fowler said being fact-finding and evidence based is important. She said
14 everyone should be invested in contributing in some way. She said some of this was based on
15 high performing teams, but some she based on what ineffective teams lacked. She said being
16 focused on the goal is important, as well as avoiding bureaucracy.
17 Lydian Altman summarized that as being mission driven.
18
19 In response to Question 2b above, the Commissioners shared the following:
20 Chair Price said dedication of the group was important to enabling teamwork.
21 Commissioner Bedford added being respectful.
22 Commissioner Richards said having defined processes, clear roles, and accountability
23 all enabled the team to function well.
24 Commissioner Hamilton said having clear goals and focus helps.
25 Commissioner Greene said having the right resources and expertise helps.
26 Commissioner Fowler said having different perspectives providing input helps enable
27 teamwork, as well as being prepared.
28
29 In response to Question 3 above, the Commissioners shared the following:
30 Commissioner Fowler said planning ahead for the work they will do/need to do as a
31 Board will help them become higher performing.
32 Commissioner Richards said a look ahead would be helpful to her. She said knowing
33 what topics are coming up before the agenda is published would help her better prepare.
34 Chair Price said that sounds like the rolling calendar.
35 Commissioner Richards said more visibility of the rolling calendar would be helpful then.
36 Commissioner Bedford said more time spent together and more training would be
37 helpful. She said more communication, specifically a way to effectively report highlights from
38 liaison meetings to colleagues.
39 Commissioner Richards said one of the things she and Commissioner Hamilton asked
40 was what their role is in those meetings and is the expectation that they will report out or share
41 minutes with the rest of the Board.
42 Lydian Altman asked who would set those expectations.
43 Commissioner Bedford said that's something the Board needs to do.
44 Chair Price said there has never been a consistent process.
45 Commissioner Richards said she isn't lobbying for or against reporting back to the rest of
46 the Board, but clarity on the expectation would be appreciated.
47 Commissioner Hamilton asked if they even need to be on all of the advisory committees
48 or only certain ones.
49 Chair Price said most boards that Commissioners are on no is either due to statute or
50 some interlocal agreement.
29
1 Lydian Altman said she now recalls a past Board retreat with Orange County where
2 boards and committees were discussed.
3 Chair Price said there used to be Board members on all of the county's own advisory
4 committees, but now they are only on the ones where there is an interlocal agreement or some
5 other requirement they participate like state statute.
6 Commissioner Hamilton said there aren't processes in place for orienting and reviewing,
7 and bringing that would help the Board be more effective.
8 Lydian Altman said now is an opportunity for someone to say what they think the
9 expectations are and hear what the rest of the Board thinks.
10 Chair Price said she sees a correlation between reporting back from committee
11 meetings and also determining whether or not attending is an effective use of time.
12 Lydian Altman said the Board may decide to set aside a work session for this discussion.
13 She said the bigger issues that come out of the retreat can inform their work plan for the next
14 year.
15 Commissioner Bedford said the retreat planning committee was hoping to surface these
16 big issues and have a list as a Board in order to plan additional time for discussion at a later
17 date.
18 Lydian Altman said it sounds like an examination of the relevancy, the need for, and the
19 expectations about service on these committees is needed. She asked what other things came
20 up in paired discussions.
21 Chair Price said every time someone new comes onto the Board it changes the focus
22 and the dynamic. She said this Board is totally different than when she first got on the Board,
23 besides Commissioner McKee including new priorities, focuses, preferences, etc. For example,
24 she said there were Commissioners that wanted to do poetry reading at the beginning of every
25 meeting or who wanted to do a proclamation every time a high school sports team won a state
26 championship. She asked how and when to determine what the Board culture will be for the
27 upcoming year.
28 Lydian Altman said this retreat was even supposed to be January 21St, then February 7tn
29 but kept changing due to COVID.
30 Commissioner Greene said the Arts Moment Chair Price was mentioning went away with
31 COVID, but she would actually like to see it back.
32 Chair Price said that was a decision that was made, it wasn't just COVID.
33 Commissioner Greene said that needs to be revisited because she supports the Arts
34 Moment.
35 Commissioner Hamilton said there are policies and procedures that would be helpful to
36 go over and follow during Board meetings to make sure everyone is on the same page and is
37 doing what they said they would do. She said it's not clear that they always follow them during
38 meetings.
39 Lydian Altman said the intent of this is for meetings to be more enjoyable and efficient.
40 Commissioner Hamilton also said there is so much information that comes to the Board
41 and it is easy to lose track of what is important, which the rolling calendar doesn't always
42 capture.
43 Commissioner Bedford said adjusting the timing could help. She suggested that instead
44 of two budget work sessions where department report out, they could hear from a couple of
45 departments once a month with an update so it's spread across the year and they would know
46 what's coming. She said this would essentially be planning a calendar of work session topics,
47 which she views as different than the rolling calendar. She said the report from departments
48 during budget work sessions is not effective. She said the Board has been getting quarterly
49 reports from finance which has been helpful and would like to have some more detailed
50 overviews of departments like this. She said she sometimes thinks the Board would be higher
30
1 performing if they spent more time discussing topics at a work session and then voted on them
2 at a business meeting.
3 Lydian Altman said she is trying to think of how to capture this in a higher level phrase
4 for next steps.
5 Commissioner Richards said this makes her think of the quote "culture eats strategy for
6 breakfast". She said some of what they are talking about is really the higher level around culture
7 and expectations. She said if operation is centered around culture then strategy and the
8 business plan then supports that.
9 Lydian Altman said the higher level is not only the strategies they hope to get from this
10 conversation around planning but also execution. She said a key word might be integration.
11 Commissioner Fowler said she thinks the Board would like to be better informed before
12 making a decision. She said if the Board has the opportunity to see an item more times, like at a
13 work session and then at a business meeting, they can be better informed and also think about
14 it more. She said people have different styles of thinking.
15 Commissioner Bedford said she agrees with that. She said on big decisions she needs
16 to have a couple of days to consider and think about it.
17 Commissioner Greene said there was a similar practice when she was on the Chapel
18 Hill Town Council.
19 Commissioner Bedford said when an item comes up they need more time on they can
20 ask to delay it in the meeting.
21 Chair Price said it's interesting to hear this because the Board has been accused of
22 taking too long to make a decision. She said it gets back to how each Board wants to operate.
23 She said the Board can delay something at any time unless it is something that is time sensitive.
24 She said maybe that needs to be a reminder to them. She said there is also the issue of just
25 familiarity with the issues, because some items are repeats but a newer commissioner will not
26 be as familiar.
27 Commissioner Hamilton said the issue of delaying an item is more about culture than
28 rules. She said knowing they can be comfortable asking to delay is important. She said
29 determining which topics and issues to discuss and when can be driven by a strategic plan, so
30 that's another benefit.
31 Chair Price said part of the culture is communication between them all and being
32 comfortable bringing a topic forward for discussion. She added that she and Commissioner
33 Bedford set the agenda with staff and have to weigh priority items with the amount of time
34 meetings will take.
35 Commissioner Bedford said another positive on this Board is that no one uses Robert's
36 Rules of Order to shut anyone down.
37 Lydian Altman summarized the discussion the Board had above based on her notes
38 including:
39
40 • Following good board management practices during meetings
41 • Timing and content of retreat to determine board culture, expectations, and operating
42 principles
43 • Planning for the work ahead and what needs to happen to accomplish
44 • Look ahead. What's coming in the next few months? (Rolling calendar)
45 • Time for more interaction between us
46 • Training
47 • Calendar of work sessions. Regular updates on activities
48 • INFORM ==m=' THINK TIME ----+ DECIDE
49 o Amount of`think time depends on familiarity with the issues, can vote be delayed,
50 Board-specific expectations and culture
31
1 Communication expectations re: advisory boards and commissions
2 o Reporting back to colleagues. How? When? Where?
3 o Expectations of serving
4 Lydian Altman said the Board will evaluate this retreat at the end to inform future
5 retreats.
6 Chair Price said related to time for more interactions, the Board can't meet outside of
7 scheduled meetings so are limited on when they can come together, so maybe they can change
8 the way they do retreats or work sessions.
9 Lydian Altman asked if that means spending more time together or spending the time
10 they have together differently.
11 Chair Price said if they used their scheduled time differently, there may be more time to
12 interact with one another.
13 Commissioner Richards said if there was a calendar for future work session topics and
14 some way to share information ahead of time, or follow the INFORM —>THINK TIME4DECIDE
15 strategy, which might help things. She said the Board doesn't want to get into a situation where
16 they are always kicking the can on everything because there is work that has to get done, but
17 because some of them have the desire to want to have more information, how can they achieve
18 this. She said even if they establish comfortability in asking for an item to be delayed, they don't
19 want to make that the norm after work goes into establishing a plan and calendar.
20 Lydian Altman reiterated that what topics may deserve more time could be informed by
21 the strategic plan.
22 Commissioner Greene said she agrees with everything Commissioner Richards said.
23 She said she isn't sure items needing more time can be predicted in advance but agrees it
24 wouldn't be everything that is delayed.
25 Lydian Altman said when they come back from break, they will break back out into
26 groups to review what changes might be necessary on specific items to be a higher performing
27 body and then report out to the whole Board to get a sense of where people fall on the scale of
28 agreement.
29
30 The Board recessed for a break from approximately 2:20 pm until 2:32 pm.
31
32 The Board continued their discussion on Moving Towards Board Excellence via breakout
33 groups.
34 Group A included Commissioner Hamilton and Commissioner Richards, Group B
35 included Chair Price and Commissioner Bedford, and Group included Commissioner Fowler and
36 Commissioner Greene.
37 Each group was asked to consider what the governing board might have to do differently
38 to move towards the high performing priorities on the slide below. Group A discussed the first
39 three topics, Group B discussed the next three topics, and Group C discussed the last three
40 topics.
32
What might this governing board have to do differently to move towards these
high perfanning priorities?
• Preparation formeetings
• Time spent during the meetings
• Communication between meetings
• Making and upholdIngdecislons
• Stewardship of resources
• Cons Idering new or different types of Informatlon
• Interpersonal relationships
• Relationships with people from other committees,
organizations,jurisdictions
• Molding each other accountable
2
Wheat might this governing 4oard have to do differently to move towards these
high performing priorities?
. . ' Suggested
Making and
upholding
decisions.
• Stewardship of
resources
• Considering new or
different types of
information
3iCan bulnrPublk Lm ad ajihilp and(ia.*�
4 Lydian Altman invited the Commissioners to report out on their discussions. She said
5 she would like to get a sense of how the group feels about the suggested changes as they
6 move through the topics.
7 In relation to the first topic on the slide above, Commissioner Bedford said once the
8 Board makes a decision, even it was a split vote, everyone moves forward in support, which is a
9 positive. For an improvement, she said the Board needs to implement the GARE equity model
10 at meetings.
33
1 Chair Price said she thinks the petition process should be updated because it can be
2 long and drawn out.
3 Commissioner Bedford agreed and said she also doesn't think the Chair and Vice-Chair
4 should make the decision on whether or not a petition will be placed on an agenda.
5 Commissioner Greene said when she was on the Town Council, a petition needed to
6 have a second and then a vote in order to send it to staff to be placed on an agenda. She said
7 she learned at commissioner training that on a small board, it can be the practice that any
8 member of the Board has the power to bring a petition on their own.
9 Commissioner Bedford said she gets that part, but asked if the Board agrees with the
10 Chair and Vice-Chair deciding to move forward or not.
11 Chair Price said this is something that they can discuss. She said sometimes petitions
12 for proclamations are made that would likely have the Board's support but is time sensitive, so if
13 the petition were to go through the currect review process, they would miss the opportunity to
14 pass it.
15 Commissioner Richards said some of the proclamations they pass are associated with
16 an annual event or day, and asked if they can be incorporated into the regular calendar so there
17 doesn't have to be an individual petition each year.
18 Chair Price said it would have to come from the Board to identify what they want to
19 recognize because there are numerous holidays or special days all year.
20 Lydian Altman restated Commissioner Bedford's question about who should approve the
21 petition. She asked if there is support for future discussion on this.
22 The Board agreed.
23 Commissioner Richards said she would like clarification on what Commissioner Bedford
24 mentioned about CARE. She said GARE has several components, and if they incorporate it all
25 into their meetings, it will impact how they spend their time as well as the amount of time they
26 spend in meetings.
27 Commissioner Bedford said she was mentioning this so it can be a placeholder for the
28 new Chief Equity Officer who is starting soon without recommendations from the Board.
29 Chair Price said it would be helpful for commissioners to bring information from sidebar
30 conversations to Board meetings.
31 Commissioner Greene said she doesn't understand what is meant by that.
32 Chair Price said sometimes commissioners have individual discussions, so it would be
33 nice for them to report out from those conversations at meetings to inform the rest of the Board.
34 Commissioner Bedford asked for any additional information the Board is given between
35 agenda publication and the meeting mention during meeting so that it is part of the record.
36 Commissioner Greene said when there was a change in language to the picketing
37 ordinance recently, it would have been nice for staff to type any changes on the screen during
38 the meeting.
39 Commissioner Fowler said even putting the new information on a slide during the
40 meeting would have been helpful as well.
41 Chair Price suggested the Board tie its stewardship of resources to mandates and the
42 future strategic plan. She said the Board should also consider the human resources and respect
43 their time and efforts, especially with staffing shortages. She also suggested the Board review
44 tax levies periodically.
45 Commissioner Bedford reiterated what Chair Price said.
46 Commissioner Richards said she doesn't fully understand what things the Board is
47 mandated to do, so she thought they were suggesting to allocate more resources to those
48 things that are mandated.
49 Commissioner Bedford said that's not quite what they discussed in their small group, but
50 it is still important to know what is mandated.
34
1 Lydian Altman said it is good for staff to hear this so they can include more information in
2 their presentation of items.
3 Lydian Altman said these are cautionary in some ways.
4 Chair Price reiterated that the Board should review tax levies periodically.
5 Lydian Altman asked if there were thoughts on how often.
6 Commissioner Hamilton said she is happy to leave the suggestion at periodically until
7 the strategic plan and other pieces are in place so they don't lock in on something they can't
8 sustain.
9 Commissioner Greene agreed.
10 Lydian Altman asked if everyone is in support of the suggestions made for this topic.
11 She also asked for clarification on what Commissioner Bedford and Chair Price wrote about
12 consideration of new and different types of information.
13 Commissioner Bedford said this is the same thing they discussed before about reporting
14 out from liaison meetings and spreading department updates across the year rather than two
15 budget work sessions. She suggested the Board plan at least one programming in-service or
16 training for themselves each year on a relevant topic that is beyond a retreat.
17 Chair Price added when there are controversial issues it would be good to make efforts
18 to hear from all sides before reaching a decision.
19 Commissioner Fowler added it would be good to also see data that provides more
20 context. For example, if 10 people were served, how many were eligible or reached out or were
21 served last year.
22 Commissioner Hamilton said it would also be good for there to be definitions and more
23 labels on data to provide more clarity.
24 Commissioner Bedford reiterated she would like a future discussion on protocol for
25 reporting out from liaison committee meetings.
26 Commissioner Fowler said when the Board comes to a conclusion on that, it would be
27 nice to have the protocol as information item quarterly as a reminder.
28 Chair Price said the protocol may change with every iteration of the Board depending on
29 preference.
30 Commissioner Richards said that ties into the question about how to spend time at
31 meetings. She asked if there was an easy way to have a designated space for more good to
32 know/nice to know information.
What might this governing hard have to Flo differently to move towards these
high performing priorities?
Suggested Change
* Preparation for
meetings
Time spent during the
meetings
Communication
between meetings
33 ��
35
1 Lydian Altman asked if there is support for spreading departmental updates across the
2 year and a planning an in-service or training for the Board as Commissioner Bedford mentioned
3 before.
4 Commissioner Richards said she likes the idea of planning in-services. She said this
5 Board really wants full information, so that might be the answer, even if it isn't mandatory. She
6 said it could also be open to the public for those who want to learn more about county
7 departments and operations.
8 Commissioner Fowler said she would prefer this to be part of a work session instead of
9 staff wasting time and only one commissioner coming.
10 Lydian Altman said she's hearing support for this, but the Board can revisit spreading out
11 departmental updates at another time. She read from the breakout notes and asked how much
12 earlier the Board would like to receive agenda packets for adequate preparation.
13 Commissioner Hamilton said at least a couple of days earlier would be helpful.
14 Commissioner Richards said even if they couldn't get slides earlier, having background
15 information earlier would be helpful.
16 Chair Price said it would be great to agenda packets earlier, but she knows from staff
17 that there are a lot of pieces that come into play about how soon they are able to be sent out.
18 Lydian Altman said the culture of this Board is they like to be well-informed.
19 Commissioner Bedford said she was happy to push to get packets on Thursdays, but
20 she doesn't really look at them until Sunday night, so it wouldn't matter to her, but she is in
21 support if it would help others.
22 Commissioner Greene said the earlier the agenda gets to them, the more last minute
23 changes there may be from staff because things are happening in real time.
24 Commissioner Hamilton said knowing what happens at Chair/Vice-Chair agenda review
25 would give the rest of the Board a heads up about what they will see in the published agenda
26 packet.
27 Chair Price and Commissioner Bedford said that is doable, but she also added that there
28 are sometimes changes between when the Chair and Vice-Chair approve an agenda and
29 publication.
30 Commissioner Hamilton suggested that an online posting of petitions, resolutions, and
31 rolling calendar to help efficiently get information out.
32 Lydian Altman asked if this would be internal to the Board or publicly accessible also.
33 Commissioner Hamilton said it could be publically facing, but would be a tool for the
34 Board.
35 Chair Price said she thinks all of that can be done.
36 Commissioner Hamilton also suggested the Board limit time on non-decision making
37 issues like proclamations. Commissioner Hamilton said if they spend too much time on these
38 types of items at the beginning, they are not as fresh by the end of the meeting for decision-
39 making. She also suggested limiting the time for speakers on these items to two minutes.
40 Commissioner Bedford said Chapel Hill really limits their proclamations now if there isn't
41 someone present to receive it. She agreed the agenda needs to be tightened up. She said she
42 also doesn't think they need to do all of the proclamations they do for special days.
43 Chair Price said she has concerns about tightening it too much because the Board
44 represents the community and if the community wants to request a proclamation, the Board
45 should respond to them appropriately. She said she thinks the Board should be accommodating
46 if it's important to someone in the community.
47 Lydian Altman said she thinks there is a way to honor that sentiment, but still streamline
48 the process.
49 Commissioner Richards said limiting comment on these items, or having a
50 Commissioner use their comment period for the item if they are sponsoring it are other ideas for
51 streamlining.
36
1 Commissioner Bedford said she wants to add some things that have not been
2 mentioned to see if others share her concern. She said she would like to receive information on
3 economic development in one closed session and have it come back to a second closed
4 session for decision. She said she would also like some clarification from the Clerk about why
5 some emails are being read at meetings.
6 Chair Price said that she directed the Clerk to read the emails at the meetings.
7 Commissioner Hamilton said she agrees with Commissioner Bedford's concern because
8 it impacts the expectation for what the rest of the community is. She also said that before Chair
9 Price just explained it, the rest of the Board had to context or understanding of why that was
10 done. She said if they are making an exception it should be made clear it is the exception and
11 not the rule.
12 Commissioner Richards said she thought emails they receive are included in the record.
13 Commissioner Bedford said they are on the website, but are not included in the minutes.
14 Commissioner Bedford said she also wants clarification on how Commissioners address
15 one another (formal and informal depending on type of meeting). She said the Board needs to
16 talk about a policy on remote attendance. She said they need to put the Arts Moment issue on
17 the list to follow up. Finally, she said the Board should read retirements quarterly and not doing
18 additional recognitions for specific individuals.
19
What might this governing hoard have tm da dtferently to MOV2 tOWards those
high perfarming priorities?
Topic •. . r
• Interpersonal
relationships
• kelationshlps wlth
people from other
committees,
organizations,
jurisdictions
• Folding each other
accountable
20 r.
21 Commissioner Fowler said more interpersonal relationships may help increase
22 receptivity on decision-making. She said better relationships with people on other elected
23 bodies would also be beneficial and would help reduce misunderstandings between groups, so
24 the Board should try to reach out more.
25 Commissioner Greene said she thinks this is something each Board member will need to
26 take on individually.
27 Commissioner Fowler said the Board needs to hold each other accountable by creating
28 rules regarding committee assignments, like to attend or find a replacement if you cannot
29 attend. She said they also need to uphold a culture of respect and responsibility on the Board,
30 as well as showing decorum in public settings.
31 Commissioner Bedford asked if the Board needs a better pre-screening process before
32 making appointments to some of the advisory boards (OWASA, Durham Tech).
33 Lydian Altman clarified that this would be so there is better matching with qualification
34 and responsibilities of each board.
37
1 Commissioner Richards said some of the Boards have unique requirements (like state
2 requirements for ethics and conflict of interest disclosure), so having that information ahead of
3 time might be helpful.
4
5 Next steps for board and staff
6
7 Lydian Altman said her takeaways from the first item were to update Article 46 resolution
8 by September 2022, develop a scorecard that demonstrates benefits to economic development,
9 schools, and costs to community (Externalities), draft RFP for strategic plan/performance
10 management for Board's approval by September 2022, and for staff to share examples of good
11 county strategic plans. She reiterated that she will send out thematic notes with more details to
12 the Board.
13
14 Evaluation
15
16 Lydian Altman asked what worked well today, and what could be done differently next
17 time.
18 Commissioner Fowler said the facility was good including the size of the room,
19 technology, space for food at the back, and the ability to eat outside.
20 Commissioner Hamilton said it was hard to hear in this room and would need
21 microphones next time.
22 Commissioner Fowler said she feels positive that something will come out of this retreat
23 because there are clear next steps.
24 Commissioner Hamilton said she wanted to have more opportunity for discussion to get
25 a sense of people's values and she feels she got that.
26 Commissioner Bedford said being in person was more beneficial than Zoom.
27 Commissioner Hamilton said having time for discussion rather than presentations also
28 helped.
29 Commissioner Bedford said all colleagues have been fully engaged and she said the
30 facilitator did a great job keeping them on track and summarizing.
31 Commissioner Bedford said January is a better time for the retreat.
32 Commissioner Greene agreed.
33 Commissioner Richards said she wouldn't mind doing some pre-work next time because
34 they can get more done that way.
35 Commissioner Hamilton said she would like to provide more information to staff about
36 what the Board needs ahead of time, so that they can get a full picture of information.
37 Commissioner Fowler suggested rotating the planning committee.
38
39 Adjournment
40 A motion was made by Commissioner Fowler, seconded by Commissioner Hamilton, to
41 adjourn the meeting at approximately 4:00 p.m.
42
43 VOTE: UNANIMOUS
44
45
46 Renee Price, Chair
47
48
49 Recorded by Tara May, Deputy Clerk to the Board
50
51 Submitted for approval by Laura Jensen, Clerk to the Board.
Attachment 2
1
1 DRAFT MINUTES
2 ORANGE COUNTY
3 BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
4 SPECIAL MEETING
5 August 1, 2022
6 6:30 p.m.
7
8 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Special Meeting on Monday, August
9 1, 2022 at 6:30 p.m.
10
11 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Renee Price and Commissioners Amy
12 Fowler, Sally Greene, Jean Hamilton, and Earl McKee
13 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Vice Chair Jamezetta Bedford and Commissioner
14 Anna Richards
15 COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: John Roberts
16 COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Bonnie Hammersley, Deputy County Manager
17 Travis Myren, and Clerk to the Board Laura Jensen. (All other staff members will be identified
18 appropriately below)
19
20 Chair Price called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. All members were present except
21 for Vice Chair Bedford and Commissioner Richards.
22
23 1. Ratification of the County Manager's Approval of ARPA Policies
24
25 The Board ratified the County Manager's approval of seven ARPA-related policies.
26
27 BACKGROUND: The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) was signed into law in March
28 2021. ARPA established the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CSLFRF),
29 which is a program that provides funding to all states, counties, and municipalities across the
30 country. The County has received its ARPA allocation of$28.8 million.
31 The U.S. Department of Treasury Final Rule governs the eligible uses of American Rescue Plan
32 Act (ARPA) funds and includes certain compliance policies (attached).
33 The BOCC adoption of these policies is consistent with current County practices and ARPA
34 compliance requirements.
35
36 County Attorney John Roberts introduced the item. He said the policies that the Board is
37 considering ratifying were based on templates from the School of Government which
38 incorporated feedback from county attorneys across the state. He said the policies are required
39 by the federal government.
40
41 A motion was made by Commissioner Greene and seconded by Commissioner Hamilton
42 to ratify the County Manager's approval of seven ARPA related policies.
43
44 VOTE: UNANIMOUS
45
46
2
1 2. Ratification of County Manager's Execution of an Insurance Coverage Agreement with
2 Travelers Insurance and Approval of a Letter of Credit Agreement
3
4 The Board ratified the County Manager's execution of an agreement with Travelers Indemnity
5 Company for Casualty and Workers' Compensation insurance coverage and approved a Letter
6 of Credit for Travelers Indemnity Company.
7
8 BACKGROUND: As part of a comprehensive risk management program, the County
9 purchases liability, property, and workers compensation insurance. Those programs had been
10 purchased through the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners' Risk Pools. The
11 County marketed these programs in 2022 and has moved these programs to Travelers
12 Indemnity Company (Travelers).
13 The Travelers coverage offered a premium savings of over $250,000, provided more robust risk
14 control and claim advocacy, and provided access to a state of the art risk management
15 information system. The Travelers proposal also included a dedicated, as opposed to shared,
16 policy limits for each claim category with the same or better coverage limits and deductibles
17 compared to the County's former provider. Due to the timing of this conversion, the County
18 Manager signed the agreement to purchase this insurance coverage from Travelers. This
19 agenda item seeks ratification of the County Manager's signature from the Board of
20 Commissioners.
21 In addition, Travelers is requiring the County to secure a $300,000 letter of credit to guarantee
22 the County is in a position to meet its financial obligations under the terms and conditions of the
23 policy. This amount is equivalent to the per claim deductible for the Workers Compensation
24 coverage. The letter of credit would only be accessed if the County failed to pay a part or all of
25 the deductible. This practice is consistent with industry standards for loss programs.
26 The County's current bank, Truist, will provide a letter of credit not to exceed $500,000 for a rate
27 of 0.5% if it needs to be accessed by Travelers. Even though the FY2022-23 Budget contains
28 sufficient funding to pay deductibles, Truist is requiring Board approval of the letter of credit
29 since the bank considers it a debt instrument.
30
31 John Roberts introduced the item. He said the county received quotes from insurance
32 carriers after the Board's meetings ended for the previous fiscal year. He said the county would
33 save $260,000 a year by entering into an agreement with Travelers. He said initially there was
34 nothing that indicated that a follow-up Board meeting would be required. He said Travelers
35 required a letter of credit, and the county's bank, Truist, required that the letter of credit be
36 approved by the Board of Commissioners.
37 Gary Donaldson, Chief Financial Officer, said the letter of credit would be treated as a
38 pre-paid expense on the balance sheet. He said this is a required step by the bank. He said
39 funds are budgeted in the FY23 budget for the expense.
40 Commissioner McKee asked why the county would need to draw on the funds.
41 Gary Donaldson said it would be extremely unlikely.
42 Commissioner McKee asked why the cap on the letter of credit is $500,000 and not
43 $300,000 as requested by Travelers.
44 Gary Donaldson said the $500,000 cap provides additional flexibility.
45 Commissioner Fowler asked what the purpose is of the letter of credit.
46 Gary Donaldson said the county does not expect claim amounts that would trigger a
47 draw on the letter of credit. He said there are budgeted funds for claim amounts. He said the
48 letter of credit is a requirement from Travelers. He said this is additional security. He said it
49 would be an extraordinary event to draw on the funds.
50 Commissioner Fowler asked what the letter of credit would be used for, premiums or
51 claims.
3
1 Gary Donaldson said it would be for claims. He said there are two accounts, one for
2 premiums and one for claims. He said that there are funds budgeted for each in the FY23
3 budget. He said despite these funds, the underwriter still said the insurance agency would
4 require a letter of credit.
5 Commissioner Fowler said the letter of credit is available for whenever the county needs
6 it.
7 Gary Donaldson said that was correct.
8 Commissioner Hamilton asked for more information on what scenarios would require the
9 flexibility of a $500,000 cap on the letter of credit.
10 Gary Donaldson said he does not think the $500,000 cap is an onerous position for the
11 county. He said the language was requested, so it was added, but the actual letter of credit is
12 for $300,000.
13 Bonnie Hammersley introduced Alisa Cornetto, Risk Manager.
14 Alisa Cornetto said the $500,000 would also be available for a cost-benefit analysis.
15 She said that over time as losses improve, it may make sense to increase the deductible and
16 save the county money. She said it would provide flexibility for the County Manager.
17
18 A motion was made by Commissioner McKee and seconded by Commissioner Fowler
19 to:
20 1) Ratify the County Manager's execution of an agreement with Travelers Indemnity Company
21 for insurance coverage;
22 2) Authorize the County Manager or her designee, the Chief Financial Officer, to execute the
23 required $300,000 Letter of Credit for Travelers Indemnity Company;
24 3) Authorize the County Manager or her designee, the Chief Financial Officer, to execute any
25 renewals, amendments, or extensions, and other associated legal documents as necessary
26 to meet Travelers Indemnity Company's Letter of Credit and Guaranty Agreement
27 requirements;
28 4) Authorize the County Manager or her designee, the Chief Financial Officer, to make
29 changes to any of the legal documents prior to execution, consistent with this approval; and
30 5) Authorize the County Manager or her designee, the Chief Financial Officer, to sign and
31 submit an application to Truist Bank for a Letter of Credit cap not to exceed $500,000.
32
33 VOTE: UNANIMOUS
34
35 A motion was made by Commissioner Fowler and seconded by Commissioner Hamilton
36 to adjourn the meeting at 6:44 p.m.
37
38 VOTE: UNANIMOUS
39
40
41
42 Renee Price, Chair
43
44 Laura Jensen
45 Clerk to the Board
46
47 Submitted for approval by Laura Jensen, Clerk to the Board.