Ouray County leaders will refine meeting processes for efficiency to benefit the public and county staff following a request from the county clerk and recorder.

These meetings should be a friendly process for the public and employees, Clerk and Recorder Cristy Lynn told county leaders during a Nov. 6 work session.

“Right now, they’re really neither,” Lynn said.

Lynn brought this to the board as she’s trying to hire a new person to handle minute-taking for the commissioners. The person hired to serve as clerk to the board will be the third to take on minutes for the board since August 2022, when the full-time position was created to take minutes off the plate of the administrative specialist.

“My current interest in the way BOCC meetings are conducted is keeping an employee that’s able to successfully complete meeting minutes,” Lynn said.

Lynn told the Plaindealer it is not functional to have a deputy clerk to the board role which is paid for through the clerk and recorder office budget but effectively managed by county administration.

Lynn doesn’t have any say over how the deputy clerk to the board performs their job, nor can she assist them in their job, but because it lives under her budget, she remains responsible for their review and discipline.

Deputy Clerk and Recorder Josef Mayfield was helping run meetings and create minutes for the past few months, but is no longer doing so. Now, until the county is able to hire someone else, Lynn is listening back to meetings to create minutes that reflect actions taken by the board and a brief summary of main meeting points.

County Manager Connie Hunt told the Plaindealer a job opening for deputy clerk of the board was posted two weeks ago, which has received nine applications so far.

Being public-friendly means keeping comments and communications on topic and concise, Lynn said.

“These meetings belong to you as the board and the citizens of this county, not me and not admin,” Lynn said.

“When the public comes to a meeting, they need to know that the hour that they took off work or the hour that they hired a babysitter for isn’t going to turn into three hours, if possible,” she said.

Lynn directly addressed commissioners Michelle Nauer and Lynn Padgett and Hunt.

“Lynn, you are a brilliant woman who cares deeply for this county. You use a lot of words to get to a point. Please make your comments more concise going forward,” she said.

“Michelle, you’re one of the sweetest people on the face of this Earth. Sometimes you’re too lenient with the meeting disruptions… Please be more firm with the public. Keep the meeting moving forward, instead of letting them go over and over the same comments,” she said.

“Connie, you work very, very hard to keep this county on track, and I appreciate all of the wonderful work that you do. Please use this amazing… deputy county manager that you’ve hired, trust her, give her some power, relinquish some control and delegate,” she said.

Lynn also proposed a list of operational changes:

• Move certain topics from regular meetings to work sessions, which don’t require minutes.

• Set and enforce earlier deadlines for creating meeting agendas so commissioners can access and discuss information in advance, such as during work sessions.

• Adopt the up-to-date Granicus software — a digital, public- facing platform for accessing government meetings, documents and messaging — purchased by the county in 2023.

• Have the county’s IT department run the technology for meetings, instead of the deputy clerk of the board, which is standard across many other counties, Lynn said.

• Change minutes to only document board action which is all that is statutorily required and a brief summary of main meeting points. If commissioners want more detailed minutes, Lynn suggested hiring a board secretary.

• Adopt a consent agenda, which is a grouping of routine, noncontroversial items that can be voted on in one board action, rather than discussing and voting on each individual agenda item.

• Section meetings into new, old and unfinished business.

• Provide a sign-in sheet for the public and set strict ground rules for public comment.

Commissioner and county comments

Both Nauer and Padgett thanked Lynn for her honesty.

Padgett responded to the comments about her lengthy comments during meetings by saying, “I’m working on it. It does take more words to not be misunderstood, whether that’s intentional or accidental.”

Nauer said other counties hold work sessions the day before public meetings, allowing the board to discuss items at length, then adopt them more efficiently the next day.

Nauer also said action-only minutes are too short in her experience, and asked for a middle ground.

Both Nauer and Commissioner Jake Niece also said receiving meeting materials further in advance would be helpful because the public sometimes inquires about agenda items before commissioners have the meeting packet, which are usually sent late on Thursday afternoons before the county closes Friday.

County Attorney Leo Caselli suggested limiting public comment to one comment per person.

Nauer directed Hunt, Deputy County Manager Kara Rhoades and Administrative Specialist Vicki Lane to start using the new software, Granicus, by the beginning of the year.

Lia Salvatierra is a journalist with Report for America, a service program that helps boost underserved areas with more reporting resources.