What a beautiful day! Hope you are enjoying one of the last summer weekends of the year. I’m sneaking in my outdoor time in between reviewing 58 applications for our next County Administrator.
Next week Tuesday, August 26, beginning at 9 a.m., there are several important items on the Board of Commissioners Agenda.
* The 58th District Court Annual Report will be presented by Chief Judge Pro Tem. Craig Bunce
Votes to be made by the Board include:
* Several Consent items that made their way through Committees
* The approval of the 2026-2030 Capital Improvement Plan
* Recommended Administrator Interview Process from Chair John Teeples along with voting by ballot candidates to move forward with (to note: without comments about any candidates). See Action items 8B-8E for more details.
I have continued to advocate for a process that takes place in the Board room vs. a closed session for the process of reviewing and deliberating which candidates should be awarded an interview. There are ways to protect the confidentiality of the applicants by discussing them by candidate number and avoiding disclosure of their name or place of employment for example. Simultaneously, this allows constituents to see that each Board member has done their homework of reviewing applicants (and not taking direction from another commissioner on who to vote for) and also provides the community an opportunity to stay connected in the process by listening to robust discussion.
I respect other commissioners’ desires to protect the confidentiality of the pool of applicants until the pool has been dwindled and they have been given an opportunity to interview in the public. I just believe it’s not an “either or” but a “both scenario.”
