Today was the first 2017 meeting of the Benton County Commissioners, and the first meeting for new Commissioner Xanthippe Augerot. Only a handful of people were in attendance, despite the contentious subject of the Corvallis-Albany Bikeway being on the agenda. Of course, the fact the meeting took place at noon may have been a barrier to public attendance, since that's right in the middle of the work day. (Given the choice between lunch or attending a mid-day public meeting, I'm going to guess that most people would choose lunch.)
For me, the most interesting part of the meeting came, well, during the short series of meetings that came after the regular Commissioner's meeting. These were comically short "meetings" of a number of County Service Districts, held for the purpose of choosing a chair and vice chair for each group.
One after another - Alpine, Alsea, Library Services, North Albany, etc. - these micro-meetings were convened just long enough for Augerot to nominate Schuster as chair (every time, of every group), and for Schuster to nominate Augerot as vice-chair (every time, of every group). Clearly this had all been worked out ahead of time, letting Annabelle Jaramillo off the hook for anything, while making Anne Schuster the chair of everything.
At the end of it all, there was more than a little joking about how they'd gotten through six "meetings" in just seven minutes. Sure, you could say it was an "efficient" use of time, but it sure wasn't a fair or sensible division of responsibilities. And the prepackaged, we've-already-discussed-this-behind-the-scenes nature of the division of duties was...Odd, to say the least.
For me, the most interesting part of the meeting came, well, during the short series of meetings that came after the regular Commissioner's meeting. These were comically short "meetings" of a number of County Service Districts, held for the purpose of choosing a chair and vice chair for each group.
One after another - Alpine, Alsea, Library Services, North Albany, etc. - these micro-meetings were convened just long enough for Augerot to nominate Schuster as chair (every time, of every group), and for Schuster to nominate Augerot as vice-chair (every time, of every group). Clearly this had all been worked out ahead of time, letting Annabelle Jaramillo off the hook for anything, while making Anne Schuster the chair of everything.
At the end of it all, there was more than a little joking about how they'd gotten through six "meetings" in just seven minutes. Sure, you could say it was an "efficient" use of time, but it sure wasn't a fair or sensible division of responsibilities. And the prepackaged, we've-already-discussed-this-behind-the-scenes nature of the division of duties was...Odd, to say the least.
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