County Works Out Committee Details

County commissioners Wednesday fleshed out details of their recently created standing committees and how the public can take part.

As of now, two committees are planned: One that will address budget-finance, the other business-economic development.

At Commissioner Dave Russell's urging, the committees will consist of two county commissioners and three citizens. Commissioner Rose Rocco will chair the budget committee and Commissioner John Druzbick will chair the economic development committee.

The goal is to have the budget committee structure in place and a meeting schedule implemented in March. The economic development committee would follow suit in April.

To keep the process moving, commissioners agreed to start advertising for six citizen positions to serve on the committees.

Commissioners will receive a complete packet on the duties, appointment options and operations of the committees at their Jan. 27 meeting.

Deputy County Administrator Larry Jennings said preference will be given to community members based on the following criteria:

For budget and finance, volunteers should have a background in accounting, banking or finance, education and senior management.

For business and economic development, participants should have a background in business (past or current), commercial-industrial, education, marketing-promotion and transportation-logistics.

The community members need computer access since all government agendas are now prepared and distributed digitally.

All applications will come before county commissioners for approval in February.

Jennings is recommending a two-year appointment for volunteers to give the committees continuity and consistency.

County Commissioner John Druzbick said he was pleased with the progress being made on the twin committees.

"I'm glad this is really starting to fall together and fairly quickly," Druzbick said.

Russell said the secret to success for these committees is to create a "clear mission statement" for each committee and don't get off on tangents during meetings.