Boring in comparison . . . but equally disturbing as they just work out everything behind the scenes. And voted not to allow people to speak a second time when a committee considers an item if they spoke the first time, even if the item (like the budget) has changed. The big issue is that we take up too much time. Annoying public, just let them do their work and stop bothering them.
Gillis and Salov absent.
The meeting is 53 minutes total, but the first 20 minutes is delay and inspirational and swearing in the new county board, with only 3 of the 27 members changing: Richard Kilmer replaces Kyle Richmond, Leland Pan is replaced by Hayley Young and Danielle Williams replaces Cynda Solberg. All three outgoing supervisors stepped down, which is apparently the only way you can get on the county board.
County Board Chair:
This portion is chaired by Carousel Bayrd. Jeff Pertl nominates Sharon Corrigan, no one else is nominated. Ferrell requests a written ballot. They don’t announce the vote totals, but she is clearly re-elected and accepts. Shes says she was reminded about what they do and how it impacts people and that they notice – she seems surprised. She invites them all to Paisans after the meeting.
First Vice Chair:
Carousel Bayrd nominates Jeff Pertl. She says it was an honor to serve in this position for 3 years. She says Jeff Pertl is a good speaker, very eloquent. No one else is nominated. He is elected but the votes are not read.
Second Vice Chair:
Mary Kolar nominates Sheila Stubbs. (cheers from the gallery) No other nominations. She is elected
Sargent at Arms:
Typically there is one male and one female. Bolig nominates Nick Zweifel who has been it for two years. Chuck Erickson nominates Maureen McCarville who has been it for a year. And there are no other nominations.
Motion to destroy the ballots, by Ronn Ferrell. So I guess we won’t know if there were any undervotes or write ins.
County Board Rules
John Hendrick makes a motion to change Personnel and Finance rules to reflect collective bargaining changes to reference the employee handbook. Not controversial, passes.
Heidi Wegleitner makes a motion to strike language about the committee not allowing people to speak a second time at committees if they have already spoken, Matano seconds. She notes that the rules improving the budget have been incorporated, but this should go with that. She says when resolutions change, the public should be able to see what is proposed, but also weigh in. She says they should respect and invite that input. We don’t always get alot of people attending. She notes that they can limit the time to 3 minutes instead of 5 if they want to make sure the meetings don’t drag on.
Paul Rusk says this is well intended, but he thinks its a problem. He talks about the Tony Robinson shooting and they had huge numbers of people coming to their meeting and he waived the provision to let them speak, they got to know many of the people and appointed many of the people to the workgroups. However, he says sometimes we had to get our work done and we had trouble getting quorum, so they couldn’t always let everyone speak. The intent is good, but he wants to leave it up to the chair. He says that some people thought he was too lax, but he was the committee chair and he was going to do it his way.
Jeff Pertl says committees use their good judgement, and committee members can suspend the rules. He says that as the Personnel and Finance chair, he will work on the issue to let people speak at budget time, but they don’t need the rule change.
Tim Keifer asks if this was presented at Executive Committee. Wegleitner says she couldn’t get to t the meeting in time before it adjourned. She did meet with a couple members of the committee and spoke with a few other supervisors. Keifer says that committee work should be done in committee. He will vote no.
Jenni Dye says that she was approached about this and other changes, some got included. She agrees that we need to work on this more, and consider the nuances.
Heidi Wegleitner says that when there are important issues, it can take time. She says there was a lot of community engagement around the jail and criminal justice. However that isn’t the experience at every committee. The problem with the language now is that it is completely discretionary. She appreciates that people will work on this in the future. She hopes people will suspend the rules when changes have taken place or there is new information.
Motion fails on a voice vote.
State Journal is the official paper of record.
They adjourn.
