[0:32] And let us know when we're ready to go. Okay. All right. Good morning, everyone. Let's call this meeting to order of Wednesday, February 18th Board of Commissioners regular meeting. First, we need to establish a quorum and Commissioner Stark, Commissioner Walter Chuck present. And myself, constitute a quorum with us here, public information, officer Kenneth Lipp and Kristen Niel County Council.

[1:00] We have no recognitions or proclamations that brings us to the adoption of the Kent scent calendar.

[1:09] These are items that have come before us before or maybe routine.

[1:15] Commissioner Chuck, do you have anything you want to highlight or?

[1:19] I have nothing else to highlight.

[1:21] Okay, I do not have any either.

[1:25] So a motion I move we accept that consent calendar is presented.

[1:31] Okay. I second that motion all in favor please say aye.

[1:36] Aye. Okay. We stand by here, mouse working.

[1:44] No public hearings and that moves us to decision in action, the community and economic development

[1:51] grant funding recommendations. And we saw this last week in decision and action. Thanks for

[1:59] pulling it over to the next meeting and how would you like to proceed?

[2:07] First, I'd like to thank Paul for showing up today. It was, it was not, it would be her in person,

[2:13] they're not changed. I just thank him for telling them that I appreciate the time that he and the staff

[2:18] took, and the scoring panel took looking at and scoring over 20 applications.

[2:23] I value their expertise and experience.

[2:27] This grant program was set up to spur economic development in our county.

[2:33] I like that this year's applications, most of them are addressing our housing needs in our county.

[2:39] I reviewed the applications and got the updates at the Edalco meetings.

[2:45] And I support you and your panel's recommendations.

[2:47] and I would move that we approve them as presented.

[2:54] Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Chuck. Yeah, just before we proceed, I would like to thank you as well for all the work that Alliance is doing to help us.

[3:06] You've done this for a number of years and we couldn't do it without you really. So thanks for your time just for the record.

[3:13] I wanted to point out that, you know, I requested that the packets include all of those past applications so we could all get a look at those things, the criteria, but, you know, I have confidence in Mr. Skidema. I know it's a good process.

[3:29] And so I would second the motion that we approve the community and economic development funding grant recommendations.

[3:39] We have an order here.

[3:42] Can you pull that up real fast?

[3:44] Just the order.

[3:45] So everybody can see it's a resolution.

[3:47] I think recall correctly.

[3:52] Maybe in the last meeting.

[3:55] One here.

[3:57] Okay.

[3:57] Just put an order number on the document.

[4:00] Put it on the document itself.

[4:02] Okay.

[4:03] Okay. So all in favor, please say aye.

[4:06] Aye.

[4:07] Okay.

[4:08] All right, next we have an order legalizing a portion of South Drift Creek Road, county

[4:17] roads, number 109, presented by county council, Kristen Yule.

[4:22] Thank you, commissioners.

[4:23] So on October 15th, the board did enter an order initiating the legalization proceedings

[4:29] for a portion of South Drift Creek Road, and this is county road 109.

[4:34] The public hearing happened on January 7th.

[4:38] We did have two individuals testify, but there was nothing filed under ORS 368211 for

[4:46] a claim for compensation.

[4:50] Mr. Blair, who is the county engineer, submitted a written report in accordance with the statute.

[4:55] This was dated November 21st, 2025, and this is included in the exhibits.

[5:00] So the next step is all the requirements have been met to proceed with the legalization, so I'm recommending approving this order.

[5:10] If you have any questions, I can answer those.

[5:14] Commissioner Chuck, anything?

[5:16] I have no questions.

[5:18] Yeah, I don't either.

[5:20] And I think we've followed the process and it's been good.

[5:25] So I would entertain a motion.

[5:27] I move that we approve the order legalizing a portion of South Drift Creek road on county road number 109

[5:34] Okay

[5:36] All in favor please say aye

[5:39] 5 okay

[5:41] And we will get that order signs

[5:45] Okay, where are we next here?

[5:53] Okay

[5:55] That's the end of our

[5:58] are labeled agenda items. Commissioner Chuck, I submitted a number of requests to be discussed

[6:06] today. I'd like to highlight some of those and proceed with, you know, at least bring

[6:15] into the phrase some of the agenda requests that I've submitted and why they're not here

[6:21] and what's your take on that?

[6:25] Just for the record, none of these were submitted on the agenda and were approved.

[6:30] There is a process we have set up in order to approve things on the agenda.

[6:36] Neither you nor I have the authority to direct staff to put things on the agenda.

[6:42] Some of these items that you've asked for could have been taken care of and

[6:48] Through their meetings with other departments and let's go forward with a couple of them.

[6:58] But we will address them as we go and some that I will not entertain discussion.

[7:05] Okay, okay. Well, thank you for that.

[7:08] There is no board authorized process for determining which items on agenda.

[7:14] And what I mean by that is, you know, a policy that the board has approved.

[7:21] So that to me, when I, when I have an item such as agenda process, that's what I'm looking for us to create in the future is, you know, a list of really a process that is has multi dimensions. Right. It's got an internal one in which elected officials staff.

[7:43] staff submit items before the board, and then it's got an external piece, too, right?

[7:49] We've had people ask us over the years, well, how do I get an item on the agenda, say

[7:54] as a community group?

[7:56] So for me, moving forward by having a board authorized process would really serve us so

[8:04] that we all understand what the rules are of engagement, both internally and externally.

[8:09] What I am looking for is really for us to place this on the agenda in the future.

[8:17] I don't think we'll solve everything about that process here today.

[8:22] But I'm looking for your support to create one and that we add it to future discussion.

[8:33] So my response to that, Commissioner Miller basically is that in the past I have asked for

[8:38] items you put placed on the agenda, whether it was a request from myself or members of the community.

[8:47] Some have been placed on and some have not.

[8:50] And the reasons given to me were that these meetings that we are having today are business

[8:55] meetings that you conduct, the business of the county, approving leases, grant programs,

[9:04] approving financials as we have in the consent calendar and I am fine with the way things are being done now.

[9:10] Council reviews them and also other staff.

[9:16] If we wish to have informational meetings that can be brought up something some other time, but as far as these meetings, I am fine with the process going forward that we have right now.

[9:26] Okay. Okay. So just to make sure I'm clear at this time you're not interested in having it as a discussion item on a meeting agenda.

[9:38] I'm saying that I'm fine with the way the agendas have been prepared.

[9:42] Okay. You know, just a snapshot looking back in history.

[9:47] We had a public staff meeting, it was on Mondays before our Wednesday meeting.

[9:56] And that served us to discuss those items.

[10:00] It's been a while since we've had those meetings.

[10:03] It would certainly be an intermediary step that we could bring back.

[10:08] Now, you know, not everything we've done in the past needs to be brought back or repeated,

[10:14] but it's certainly worth taking a look at.

[10:16] see how it served us. Okay, well, let's see here. Thank you, Commissioner Chuck.

[10:25] Staff, just to be clear, am I right that we don't have a board adopted policy

[10:32] or creating the agenda? So we have a policy that's been in place for probably 20 years.

[10:40] So, again, one commissioner, Mr. Chuck is correct, one commissioner has no authority under the law to direct staff or direct a process.

[10:51] Okay. Okay. I guess for me, I think it's something that we should discuss in the future and I would move that we place the agenda process on a future agenda discussion.

[11:10] It could be a work session, it could be a special meeting, do you second that motion?

[11:17] I do not.

[11:19] Okay.

[11:20] Okay.

[11:22] The next thing, and I've just only got a couple more here, Mr. Chuck.

[11:27] Thank you.

[11:29] Board vacancy, are we going to dive into this at all today or where you stand on that?

[11:35] I

[11:39] am fine with the way the process we you and I had agreed on you and I did not have any agreements on candidates going forward.

[11:46] Okay. So what's next for you?

[11:52] We are, we I'm in the county needs to make sure that we are abiding by the statute and also seeing what other measures going forward there are.

[12:01] Okay. Okay. Well, thank you. Just so everybody's kind of clear on what I've done. I did reach out to the governor's office on Friday.

[12:11] the office of legal counsel for the governor's office to really provide us, you know, any information that we needed to know if we were not approaching this in a manner that we should have have not heard back from the governor's office yet.

[12:26] I think that would be very helpful.

[12:29] So I just want you to understand that I am ready to proceed and come up with a collaborative

[12:35] solution to keep this process moving forward. So I am at the ready to do that. And I do

[12:43] recommend that we at least have a special meeting by the end of the week anytime, really, to

[12:52] pick somebody and start interviews and keep it going. Okay. All right and then

[13:02] just the last item that I requested that we don't see here is clarification

[13:08] commissioner Chuck are you are you approving a special meeting to be scheduled? No

[13:13] I'm not okay. We've seen district attorney Wallace make agenda requests I have

[13:22] made requests as well to discuss DA staffing and just want to make sure everybody understands

[13:31] that the board is the authority, right?

[13:34] We are ultimately responsible here, commissioners chucking myself for everything under the umbrella

[13:42] of the county and what I am at least looking for at a minimum is just a professional diplomatic

[13:51] discussion with Finance, HR, Legal Commissioner Chuck, myself, DA Wallace, to just

[13:58] really talk about staffing and what district attorney Wallace is contending

[14:06] with. At a minimum, I'm just looking for that environment for us all to sit

[14:12] down together, compare notes, and make sure we're all on the same page. So I would

[14:20] move that we add a DA staffing at the soon as possible convenience to discuss what general

[14:31] office is going through.

[14:34] So I would also like to highlight that there are numerous departments in the county that

[14:38] are also facing staff shortages and I wish to send a precedent and also go over HR and finances

[14:44] ability to look at the budget-address these situations, HHS. I get their updates every

[14:52] week. They're down on staffing. I've talked with the sheriff. It's down on staffing.

[14:58] I think we have.

[15:00] Multiple openings at planning. I've gotten quite a few calls the last couple weeks about backups at planning. They lost one of their main people. So as far as addressing each department's staffing shortages, I don't think that's under our preview. I think we need to leave that up to staff at HR and finance. I got my budget calendar a couple weeks ago from finance. All of those vacancies and the budget impacts on the freeze will be addressed.

[15:29] have part way through next month, and I think that we should wait until that happens because we need to make sure that we address all of the staffing shortages and also some potential budget shortfalls.

[15:41] It would be premature to make decisions on those things right now without having the budget forecast also.

[15:50] I met with Lenin a few times and one of the things that I want to make sure before we start doing anything as far as increasing.

[15:59] and the general fund budget is to make sure that when these staff increases were put in,

[16:06] they are going to solve the problem that they were supposed to solve.

[16:09] And if they haven't, we need to make sure that we address that manner and make sure that the

[16:13] departments know that too. Yeah, well, I'm glad that you are having conversations and looking at

[16:21] That's, you know, the whole array of potentialities and again, for me, when I'm interested in hearing

[16:31] from District Attorney Wallace, it's the same for every department head, right?

[16:36] What are, what is happening?

[16:38] What are the financial impacts?

[16:40] You know, I believe it is our responsibility, okay, to address these issues and nothing prohibits

[16:48] as from just having a conversation, especially with you, the community, so that you can

[16:54] see too, right?

[16:56] When I think about transparency, it's really so, again, we're all on the same page.

[17:03] We all have the same facts and data that we're working with, and that includes our department

[17:07] heads, right?

[17:08] And my sense is, at a minimum, what I see is just not a lot of open collaboration, and I think

[17:17] That is one of the things that just having Wallace or any department had come forward and talk about is are we all on the same page?

[17:26] Okay, well to Commissioner Chuck's point.

[17:32] I just like to answer that so it is my view that HR is the purview of HR and that is the date of the operations of the county of which we should be aware of but we should not be.

[17:49] getting involved in. We have quite a few things that we should be doing and we are doing that are more important, that are more important to our duties as commissioners.

[18:03] And as far as collaboration in my talks with many of the department heads and other electives, there is collaboration going on.

[18:11] and regarding their vacancies and I would not say collaboration as a problem is it's the frustration

[18:18] that the current budget situation will end and we need to be focused on that for the next six

[18:23] months. Yeah well we do I think you know ongoing anytime it's absolutely the important folks when

[18:34] you look at the board and you think about the board's authority and when you look at ORS right

[18:41] that looks at that broad authority of county commissions.

[18:45] How the commission then takes that authority

[18:49] and pushes it out potentially to a county administrator,

[18:54] to an HR director.

[18:55] The board delegates its authority, okay?

[18:58] That doesn't mean we lose responsibility, right?

[19:02] So, hearing what you're saying is I think it's important

[19:05] to understand what is happening

[19:09] underneath the authority of the board, and that is primarily the way I see how

[19:18] the authority flows out and down. You know, you could argue that the boards with

[19:26] that top-down authority, it doesn't, again, preclude us from bottom up, right?

[19:34] right? Our team, these are the subject matter experts. I don't, you know, I don't have

[19:40] that kind of training and expertise that somebody like a finance director has, but what I'm

[19:47] certainly looking for is to make sure he's pulling an upstreaming back up his knowledge

[19:52] to us and having conversations, again, as I think something that makes sure we're all in

[19:58] page, so appreciate that, okay?

[20:03] Yeah, I'm not going to dive in or advocate for executive

[20:09] session at this time and other items I've submitted. To Commissioner Chuck's point, we have

[20:16] been distributed the budget calendar, which is great, seems fairly well mapped out with

[20:24] with the types of meetings that we're going to be having, and it looks like on the 27th

[20:31] we can expect to have an online budget book narrative, and I'm going to give everybody

[20:36] a chance to look into our financial activity as well, which I think is important to really

[20:43] encourage people to come along for the ride.

[20:46] Ask questions, take a look, advocates, because as and if we are moving forward to be having

[20:56] a challenge in your financially, we're going to have to make potentially hard decisions,

[21:02] right?

[21:03] So, again, you know, what your priorities are through us is important for us to know.

[21:11] All right.

[21:12] So moving on, thank you for your patience, everyone.

[21:17] So that jumps us, that was kind of discussion, I guess.

[21:24] It doesn't look like we have any reports from staff or partners, but Commissioner Chuck,

[21:29] it looks like you have a report today.

[21:33] Yeah, so it was my activities last week.

[21:35] So on the 6th, I sat in virtually on some Association of Oregon County, some committees,

[21:43] Health and Human Services.

[21:46] Basically, what this committee does is it looks over at this time of year, over what the

[21:52] legislation is and what's going through and how that potential legislation will affect

[21:57] community. So I just highlighted a couple.

[22:01] 4-0, HP 4-0, 7-0, as the work convenes that asks

[22:10] for a work group to look at improvements and updates to coordinated care organizations

[22:14] and community mental health programs. The intent is to reduce administrative burden and provide

[22:19] better services. HR1, and this was the bill passed in the U.S. Congress.

[22:26] There's the hurdle there is potential reductions in federal funds, all of our HHS departments

[22:37] here in the county, we will be striving to provide basic services and mental health

[22:45] care with potential upcoming reductions in Medicaid and other funding sources for community

[22:55] community-based health providers, most of that is from the state.

[22:59] Governor in revenue, an economic development board, HB 4148, I think I've talked about that before.

[23:08] Reapportion's transit lodging tax percentages from 70%, 70% in favor of the state to 13% in favor of

[23:16] the entities that collect those taxes, the intent is to switch that to 60%

[23:21] to the entities and 40% in favor of the entities.

[23:26] It also broadens the available uses for funds.

[23:29] We can use more for infrastructure, which we couldn't do before.

[23:34] Depot Bay is looking to replace or work on it's drinking water and wastewater treatment plant.

[23:41] This would free up those funds for them to do those improvements.

[23:45] It gets more local control over funds, and this does not mean that that 60%

[23:51] And that has to be used in the entities or for the entities they can choose to do more advertising with the state or by themselves for that it just gives more control over that there's a recreational liability bill in the Senate by been contacted by charter operators and other businesses that have a recreational businesses outside.

[24:16] This basically brings us up to the same levels of liability as all the Western states.

[24:24] They're much in favor of it, especially the chargers in the whale watching.

[24:31] Natural resources, there's a Ford 4134, it's 1.25% for wildlife.

[24:38] This is an increase on the transit lodging tax.

[24:42] This would pay for poaching enforcement and

[24:44] based on species monitoring, state-wide action plans,

[24:47] wolf depredation, compensation, and wildlife connectivity,

[24:51] and crossing and stewardship programs,

[24:53] and the Oregon Recreation Fund and the Conservation Corps.

[24:58] This one is an extra transit lodging tax.

[25:03] It's getting a good support, but I'm not sure if that's gonna be

[25:07] one of those things that the legislature at this time

[25:09] is going to impose a new tax on the people.

[25:12] So, on the 9th, we had public safety and veterans.

[25:16] There was a bill that's going through to, with improvements in emergency response

[25:21] preparedness and management.

[25:23] Another one on EMT funding and a program re-organization and modification, transportation

[25:29] and community development.

[25:31] There's something on city annexation of non-contiguous lands and that doesn't, that doesn't sound

[25:38] like an impacts a county but the county impact would require us to provide maintenance

[25:43] level and care to those roads within city limits.

[25:47] Omnibus housing bill changes existing programs to facilitate more opportunities to build

[25:53] housing, streamline that application process, and times.

[25:57] That one's pretty well supported, I think we all know that housing needs and the efficiency

[26:02] of the Lincoln County.

[26:04] Rural residential development reason allows counties with lower populations per square mile to reason on for residential use in less than 40 acres and ADU sides increase if outside the urban grow growth boundary.

[26:21] This is only for counties with less than 30 people per square mile.

[26:25] Now this not applied only in county and on House Bill 41-44 creates a collection system

[26:33] for lithium batteries for slightly purposes and fire prevention.

[26:37] Our local providers, solid waste providers are very much in favor of this.

[26:42] When a lithium battery gets crushed, it can catch fire.

[26:46] They can lose their hauling vessel and right now they're between $750, $100,000 a piece.

[26:54] and if they were to lose one that cost would get passed on to our local people who use the service.

[27:04] I also testified in favor of H148 in the House Committee on Revenue.

[27:12] And on the 10th, 30 plus commissioners from 23 different counties.

[27:18] We met in person with the Senate President and Speaker of the House over breakfast.

[27:24] We got updates on the session so far, possible outcomes, concerns and wishes.

[27:30] They were hoping to pass legislation and hoping that they could get to pass some good things.

[27:35] There's ongoing concern with ODOT, making up their $300 million shortfall.

[27:43] And the state also looking for making up some money on their budget.

[27:49] that's all going to be going through ways and means

[27:51] and you will see what happens when the session ends.

[27:56] One of the problems with the ODOT shortfall

[27:59] is they're looking at taking money

[28:00] from the Connect Oregon grants.

[28:03] That is a grant that addresses transportation issues

[28:07] in cities, counties, ports,

[28:10] and other things such as pedestrians and bicycles.

[28:14] And then also we

[28:21] also had the 120th anniversary of the Senate

[28:24] Continuing Resolution celebrating 120 years of AOC.

[28:30] And then later in the day I met with Senator Anderson and Representative

[28:33] Donberg, accompanied by a couple of county commissioners from Benton County,

[28:38] regarding 4148 and other legislation that affects counties.

[28:43] There were some other lobbying groups that I met that were also working on some

[28:47] legislation that would benefit our county and 4148 and some other ones.

[28:53] And then myself and one of the Harnie County commissioners met with Representative Owens.

[28:57] To discuss legislation beneficial to rural and frontier counties.

[29:02] One thing I've learned by going to AOC is that there are quite a few counties that have a lot in common.

[29:08] And those are the rural and frontier counties.

[29:10] We make up 28 to 29 of the counties of the 36 in the state.

[29:15] And it's better that we work together than not against each other.

[29:20] We have a lot more in common than we do have differences.

[29:22] So thank you for your time.

[29:24] Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much, Commissioner Chuck.

[29:27] And I want to put a plug in for Commissioner Chuck being at the Capitol and the county like many counties.

[29:38] It pays a pretty hefty contract and dollars to the Association of Counties to really help tie us together and that we are advocating for ourselves with our fellow counties as we look at these legislative impacts and how they might affect us.

[30:00] So when Commissioner Chuck participates in, you know, a cadre of committees that are looking at these bills with fellow counties to say, wow, how is this going to impact us? And then through those committees, that advocacy is pushed back up to the legislature. So, you know, the time he's spending on our behalf to take a look at what kind of impact we might be experiencing. I think is really,

[30:29] important. I appreciate that you're doing that work Commissioner Chuck and there's a lot of great

[30:38] conversations happening at the committee level through the Association of Counties and I am glad

[30:44] Commissioner Chuck is there for us. He's taking a look at these things. I know that was a lot of

[30:49] information. I appreciate it. You have been doing quite a bit and I think that serves us. Okay, so

[30:56] appreciate your time on that. Yeah. Thank you. It looks like we're advertising for North Face

[31:01] both of us. Yes, right. Okay, so that was Commissioner Reports and that moves us into public

[31:11] comments.

[31:14] PIOLIP, you want to go with written? The written is attached.

[31:22] Okay. Chair, the written

[31:23] comment is attached to the agenda. It got on there a little bit late. There's a comment about the

[31:28] potential naming of Fillington County Commons, and then there's a comment about the Commissioner

[31:31] appointment process. Okay. Okay. So, well let's take who's in the room here. We have Christine

[31:39] Hutchins. Please come forward and remember you have three minutes to address the board.

[31:50] Make sure that

[31:51] it is red and then maybe do a check check so you can hear yourself. No. Is it red?

[32:02] Needs the button on the base. Oh yeah. Oh, but look on the base and when it turns red,

[32:09] yeah, there you go. Okay, good morning commissioners. I'd like to remind everyone that sitting on the

[32:21] the taxpayers. The first duty of government is to protect its people.

[32:28] Sadly, that does

[32:29] not seem to be happening here in Lincoln County. Just in case you are not aware, we had

[32:36] a man with a hatchet on the beach in Newport yesterday. We had an arm man that was intoxicated

[32:43] near one of our schools, and I'm just picking Newport because both commissioners live in

[32:47] report. We can go into other cities too if you'd like. A sexual assault on the 100 block

[32:54] of 71st Street in Newport happened yesterday. A sexual offender was questioned by office

[33:00] in downtown Newport, possibly not on the registry like it should have been. And we had

[33:06] a bar and a grill broken into on highway 101 in Newport. And this is all in two days.

[33:11] So you sit here and will not discuss the DA staffing.

[33:19] We are attracting the wrong people

[33:21] here because the word is out that our DA's department is understaffed and therefore

[33:27] is unable to prosecute or crime. So my question is, how long are we going to fiddle while

[33:34] roam burns with these little childish gains that are going on? Our DA's office has been

[33:39] and under start for over a year, and Commissioner Miller, NDA Wallace, have tried multiple times

[33:46] to get this on the agenda. So I am assuming that it is Council

[33:50] Ull and WaterChuck that is stopping it, because I do not think anyone else would have the

[33:54] authority. And lastly, I have a question that I have asked eight months ago that I still

[34:00] do not have an answer to, is why is Council Ull still standing on the dius when she slandered

[34:06] four county employees to two commissioners—Lincoln County residents—and she has not been

[34:13] investigated like all these other employees that the county has that you seem to be putting

[34:17] on administrative leave and leaving them home for months on full pay.

[34:22] I would like an answer to that question. I have been asking it for eight months now.

[34:26] Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Christine.

[34:32] Let's see here. Barbara Davis and Barbara.

[34:46] Good morning.

[34:47] Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. I too have questions as a tax paying citizen to

[34:57] contribution to your generous salaries, so I would like some answers, some accountability.

[35:03] On January 7th, the Board of Commissioners meeting, county council stated that the business

[35:08] of that meeting was to appoint a board chair, as a vacancy was left with Commissioner Hall's

[35:14] death.

[35:15] Council stated that past practice dictated that Commissioner Chuck would become the chair.

[35:19] However, Oregon revised statutes, 203.240 states, if two members of the board cannot agree

[35:27] on the appointment of a chairperson, the member who's longest in length of service shall act as chair.

[35:33] At that point, Commissioner Miller should have been the chair.

[35:37] It is my understanding that the Oregon revised statutes are the law of the land,

[35:41] that the Oregon statutes override past practice. So why was that legal advice not given by county council?

[35:49] First question. At the February 4th, the work session, the county council stated that the

[35:54] The commissioner of vacancy must be filled within 30 days by statute.

[35:58] There was no justification for not following the law.

[36:03] Council quoted ORS 236.210.

[36:07] But in fact, ORS 236.210 does not contain a 30-day deadline.

[36:14] This is the applicable statute for a non-partisan county.

[36:18] Lincoln County is a non-partisan county.

[36:21] Despite Council Yules repeated reminders that we are out of compliance with the law,

[36:27] according to ORS 236.2 was zero, that would be incorrect.

[36:33] She continued to express the urgency of this appointment.

[36:37] In that same meeting, Commissioner Miller repeatedly asked, as he has

[36:40] right as the elected commissioner, for a further discussion of the appointment process.

[36:45] If this appointment held such urgency as expressed by County Council,

[36:49] So why was the next board of commissioner meeting in which commissioner Miller stated

[36:53] as a desire for further discussion on the appointment process, and in which commissioner

[36:57] will have been in the chair, why was that meeting canceled without board deliberation?

[37:03] I believe commissioner Chuck denied counseling the meeting, maybe the public information officer

[37:09] canceled it.

[37:10] The question remains unanswered.

[37:15] So I would really like answers to these questions, and I would like those answers made publicly

[37:21] not in private to myself. I would like those answers and accountability publicly. Thank you.

[37:30] Thank you, Ms. Davis.

[37:34] So we've got two signed up. It looks like that's it for in-person inputs.

[37:41] Did you want to do the raise hand function online or? You didn't receive any of the forms.

[37:46] Okay. Okay. So just want to be clear, we have a process for submitting online feedback. Okay. No raised hands.

[38:04] No submissions. Okay.

[38:11] Oh, yeah. Well, let's allow her.

[38:17] Commissioner Miller, we do have a process for that.

[38:21] And no one signed up in time. Yeah, I hear you Commissioner Chuck.

[38:28] That process is not a board authorized process. We didn't take a vote. And I think

[38:37] Lola Jones is here and she might not even be aware of that, so I think we can give her a chance to talk today. Okay. So no, that's the process commissioner Miller.

[38:50] And when I've been shared, I follow that. So I would, I would hope that you would do the same.

[38:55] Okay. Which which one though?

[38:58] Because we have a, we have a, that there's an online process for rules that people have to sign up.

[39:04] Yes, online, there's one for online and you have to sign up the day before.

[39:08] Okay, I hear you today. I am waving that for this individual online.

[39:15] I would advise not because the point of doing the online is you actually sign the same rules that you sign when you come in person.

[39:21] And so that gives staff the opportunity to actually ensure that the individual has signed

[39:26] has agreed to the rules of public comment, which has been approved by the board.

[39:31] Okay. Appreciate that feedback. The the virtual process was not a process that was approved

[39:38] by this board. Okay. That is a process that was created at a different time. You know,

[39:45] for the record, I've requested that we bring all of these processes, again, under one

[39:50] and Brella, and re-look at the public comment rules, I think I will give Lola Jones the opportunity

[39:58] to speak to us. She's raising her hand, and I see no downsides to this, okay?

[40:07] I do, because we need to follow the process that was set up, Commissioner Miller, and we adhered to it

[40:12] for the last five or six meetings. So, I do not think we should vary from that.

[40:26] Would you let Hologone speak please?

[40:32] This, we're not, I'm not going to be part of that. So, no.

[40:36] Okay. Okay, everyone. Hold on.

[40:40] We need to bring this process back to the board and have a discussion about it.

[40:46] So we're all into the same page and that the rules are encompassed in one comprehensive process.

[40:52] So I'm making a motion that we add public comment rules to the next agenda.

[40:58] Would you support me on reviewing all of this then?

[41:02] No, I will not.

[41:04] Okay.

[41:05] All right.

[41:06] Okay.

[41:08] All right.

[41:10] Please.

[41:10] Hey, everyone.

[41:12] Please.

[41:14] Okay.

[41:15] We'll tell you what, I'm closing public comment, okay?

[41:20] We have no executive session.

[41:23] Thank you for your time.

[41:26] We'll keep working together, everyone, and trying to come to a place where we have consensus.

[41:31] Keep your input coming in.

[41:33] This is your government.

[41:34] I appreciate you being here, and unless there is anything else for the board.

[41:40] Okay.

[41:43] I'm adjourning this meeting.

[41:44] Thank you. Okay.

Board of Commissioners

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