Commissioners Court Colleagues:
January approaches! As does the annual doling out of Commissioners Court subcommittees. Attached for your review is a list of the subcommittees and the current casting. I would like to strive for the following in the new year:
· A more even distribution of subcommittee responsibilities among the commissioners
· Fewer subcommittee responsibilities for the County Judge
· Sunsetting of committees that have not met in the previous year
First, regarding a more even distribution of responsibilities, I suggest striving for 10 or fewer assignments per commissioner. To achieve that goal, consider what assignment you currently have that incoming Commissioner Travillion may be interested in and what committee assignments could be sunsetted because the committee has not met or no longer has a driving mission for the County. Currently I believe the distribution is as follows:
· Commissioner Daugherty – 17
· Commissioner Gomez – 14
· Commissioner Shea – 14
· Myself – 11
· Commissioner Davis – 2
Currently, I believe there are at least 3 subcommittees that potentially could be sunsetted or consolidated with other assignments.
Second, regarding letting myself off the hook for subcommittees, my rationale is that I meet with county executives and chief executives of our partner organizations with such frequency that my attendance on a subcommittee seems a wasted opportunity for another member of the court to have greater interface with these management executives. Some of my assignments are statutorily required. I am open to commissioners’ interest in any of my discretionary assignments that are not regional in nature (e.g. CapCOG and CAMPO)
Third, regarding sunsetting, I do not want any member of this Court or our executives to be assigned to committees that do not have purpose tied to the County mission. If a subcommittee has not met in more than a year, I believe we can safely assume it is no longer integral to achieving a current county goal. Also, some committees external to the County may be very active but no longer have goals that are directly related to County priorities. Let’s reevaluate our participation in such external efforts.
Sarah Eckhardt
