Makeup of EDIT board reviwed (03/03/2009)

A county advisory board hopes to make a two-pronged attack at solving membership issues by trimming the roster and reviewing rules regarding the number of members needed to conduct a meeting.

The Jay County Economic Development Income Tax Advisory Board, which oversees the use of the county's EDIT fund, discussed options to solve its member woes, underscored by having only eight of the 22 members in attendance this morning.

After a bit of digging, board chairman Bill Bradley located the ordinance that created the board, which specifies 16 members. The board agreed this morning to amend the ordinance to cut down that required number to 13 members.

"It sort of grows and grows and grows and morphs into something," said Bradley of the expanded roster since the board's creation, which over the years has added additional members from local industry as well as new positions like the Jay County Community Development director, whose department was created after the board's original conception.

The ordinance requires all three county commissioners, four of seven county council members, and the mayors or town board presidents of the county's six municipalities, which the board agreed was unnecessarily large.

Commissioner Milo Miller Jr., who was county council president in 1989 when the ordinance was passed, said the numbers of elected officials was set high since the populace was upset about the possibility of new taxes.

"(County officials) put themselves in a noose," he said. "We had a lot of pros and cons to it, mostly cons. ... But we won out, it turned out to be good for the county."

The group agreed that one commissioner and one commissioner appointee as well as one county council member and one council appointee would be more reasonable. The board also agreed that the inclusion of a county attorney wouldn't be necessary since any major decisions would move to the commissioners or council anyway where a legal mind could weigh in.

Bradley said the roster should be reviewed by the end of the year and appointments, reappointments, or releases of members should be hashed out.

As for a quorum, while usually defined as more than 50 percent of the voting membership, the board was looking at different angles for how to specify the level.

The board tossed around ideas such as setting a lower percentage and requiring certain members, such as a commissioner and council member, to be present. Or, the board could operate as long as the members on hand felt a reasonable amount of people were there to conduct business.

"Do we even have a problem with quorum even though its not mentioned in the ordinance?" asked county council president Gerald Kirby.

Bradley wondered aloud if a quorum was necessary since decisions made by the EDIT board require commissioner and council approval in the end.

"This being an advisory board, maybe that isn't as big of a deal," he said, stating the rule was "flexible."

"You might want to consult an attorney to see if we need a quorum for an advisory board," suggested Miller.

Bradley agreed and said he will speak with attorney Bill Hinkle while working on changes to the ordinance to reflect the morning's membership decisions.

In other business, the EDIT board gave Bradley permission to approach the commissioners and county council to request use of $8,750 of EDIT money for the county visioning process.

Bradley said the visioning plan is a 10-year roadmap to where the county is and where it wants to be in terms of development. The project is looking to receive about $20,000 from the United Way of Jay County, $10,000 from the Portland Foundation, and about $10,000 from municipal EDIT funds on top of the county's contribution.

Bradley said he is currently securing those funding sources before the project moves forward.[[In-content Ad]]