- Welcome anybody who is online with us. This is a special session of the Monroe County Board of Health. I do have a statement I would like to read just to start us off. This meeting is for the purpose of receiving comments from members of the community who would like to give input on the draft public comment policy for the Board of Health.
- The draft has been posted online for a few weeks for public viewing. If you haven't seen it and you're here in the room, there are a limited number of printed copies on the table and back. By way of background, the Board of Health has never had a formal policy concerning public comment. Rather, we've operated for decades with an informal procedure of allowing public comment at all regular board meetings
- with speakers able to discuss any topic for a three minute period. This new draft further describes procedures for speaking both in person and virtually at our board meetings, reinforces the board's commitment to receiving input from the public, creates a new method for receiving input through our email address and set standards of conduct for speakers.
- Anyone making comments in person today will need to please sign the sheet at the podium. Those making comments on the live stream will need to raise their hand and when recognized must state their full name and turn their camera on. We will alternate between speakers in the room and speakers online. Each speaker is limited to three minutes. Comments may not include disrespectful or obscene language.
- and may not be directed toward any individual board member or health department staff member. Please consider this statement when making your comments. Focus on the issue, challenge ideas, not people. Comments will only be heard at this meeting pertaining to the public comment policy draft as no other topics are scheduled to be heard at this meeting. Community members wishing to make a comment on a different topic
- may email us at boardofhealth.co.munroe.in.us, or they may attend a regularly scheduled meeting of the board to make an in-person comment on another issue. Speakers not adhering to these rules will be informed that they are out of order, and if a speaker receives three such warnings, they will be asked to leave the meeting or will be muted if they are online.
- We do not have anyone in person in the room who is a member of the public wishing to make a comment. We have people in the room. Obviously, we're here and we have our legal representative joining us. So I guess we will move right to the folks that might be online and would like to make a statement about our public comment policy. We are ready to hear from you.
- If you could please raise your hand. I'm going to ask TSD to confirm. I don't see any hands. Are you seeing any hands raised? No? Okay. Looks like we have one. If you could please, okay, two.
- So Ernie Frazo, TSD, if you could please promote him to a speaker or unmute him, whatever you have to do. Ernie, if you could please turn on your camera and your microphone.
- If it doesn't let you, Mr. Frazo, you can try rejoining the meeting. We are having technical difficulties. Let's try to get our next speaker with a hand raised on and we will come back to Mr. Frazo.
- Yasti, can you see who our next speaker is with their hands raised? Right now it's only Mr. Frazeau. Okay, so they must have put down their hand.
- on getting Mr. Frazo into the meeting. A suggestion was made that he log out and try to log back into the meeting and see if that clears the problem.
- While we're waiting, I can tell anyone listening that we've had several emails from the public that have been really helpful to us. We have Mr. Frazo back. Let's pause and see if we can get him on. I think I might be on at last. OK, so we can hear you. We can't see you yet. Can you please turn your camera on?
- It supposedly is on. It's on. OK, TSD, can you get the camera on for us? Try turning it on and off again because we don't have a feed for you. Do you have one? Let's see. No. Try, there should be a little arrow next to the camera. Try checking which input you have selected. There we go. We can see you now. You're there. We're good.
- First time on Teams. Turn it over to you for your three minutes. I know it's such an experience, but now you'll probably never have to go through that again because you understand it all, right? No. Okay. Please state your name and then make your statement for us. My name is Ernie Frazo. Just wanted to, first of all, congratulate you on pursuing this policy.
- and also for meeting in a format that allows you to face the public and the public to face you. And that's why my first comment when I saw your table arrangement was someone had their back to the public and would always have to turn around if there were people attending. So I commend you for your format right now and hope you continue it. I did submit a written, I would call it kind of revision edited copy
- But basically one question I would still have is at what point you would take public comment based on one agenda items and two for non-agenda items because I feel that the public should be able to comment during an agenda item consideration and then at the end for all other items not on the agenda. So that's basically all I have to say about it.
- you very much for your comment and thank you again for your written document and your comments that you emailed us and I was just before you joined I was telling anyone listening we've had several members of the public send us emails and I've sent them around to all the board members and they've been they've been really interesting and positive and helpful and we appreciate all the other sets of eyes on this because I
- There are sometimes things that we don't think about, like what you just mentioned. So our process, as we expect it to happen now, is we have a regularly scheduled board meeting on Thursday. We will have this item on our agenda. We will be putting together all of those great ideas that you and others have sent us. And hopefully, we can come up with another draft
- to actually vote on and get in place. But thank you very much, we appreciate your help. Glad to do it. Okay, TSD, are there any other speakers that you can see on your end? No, not at the moment. I believe you are not, you're a reporter, you're not, okay, gotcha. So we don't have anyone in the room,
- who would like to speak? Do you think we should? Is there any amount of time we need to keep this open? No. Okay. Okay. Since there are no other speakers in the room or online, we are going to go ahead and adjourn this special session of the Monroe County Board of Health.
- and my thank you to all of my colleagues from the Board of Health here and Dr. Ryder Band and Dave Schilling and thank you.