The Board of Commissioners met for their first workshop of the year at 1:30 p.m. this afternoon.
When designating the Chair and Vice-Chair for the New Year, Legal Counsel Wally Hicks said if no agreement is made, the longest serving member shall be chair. If members are tied for longest continued period of service, the member whose surname comes first in the alphabet would become chair.
Commissioner Ron Smith claimed Commissioner Chris Barnett and former Commissioner Andreas Blech "blindsided" him and took the chair from him in a previous meeting. There was an impasse, so Barnett said they would designate Smith as Vice-Chair and him as Chair, per the function of the code requirement.
Since the 30-day deadline to appoint a new Commissioner was missed, Counsel will have a discussion with the board tomorrow afternoon at the 1 p.m. workshop.
During an update from the Airports Department, Smith asked about the $3 million line of credit and its usage. $1.2 million from the credit was used for the first Knife River balance. Knife River also provided fill from their I-5 project for the Taxiway 'A' extension project coming this summer.
The board approved business requests from the Clerk, Information Technology, Transit, and Human Resources Departments as well as Airports Advisory Board Bylaws. The IME Grant Agreement from the Sheriff's Office providing funds for the Josephine Marijuana Enforcement Team was also approved.
Following approval of agreements for Community Justice, Public Health, and Forestry Departments, the meeting adjourned.
