Chelan-Douglas Health District Studying Changes to Board Meeting Procedures

The Chelan Douglas Health District is taking up recommendations of an after-action report following the COVID pandemic that suggests establishment of rules and procedures for how board meetings should be conducted.

"It could cover how a board agenda is laid out, whether there is opportunity for board discussion or how somebody could submit something to be on a board agenda" explained Jerrilea Crawford, East Wenatchee Mayor and Health District Board Chair.

She says the East Wenatchee Council and many other entities have similar proceduarl guidelines in place.

A subcommittee will come back with proposals for the board's consideration.

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Among the rules that could be addressed are restrictions on public comment

A motion was introduced at Monday's meeting by Douglas County Commissioner Dan Sutton to limit public comment to subjects on a meeting's current agenda and allow open remarks once per quarter.

Current practices has allowed a 3 minute public comment by individuals on any topic they wish.

Sutton's concern is that the public comment section at every health district meeting for the last year has included what he described as "the same dialogue" about myocarditis or other concerns over COVID response.

"I get the point" Sutton said and argued for a more valuable use of the board's and the public's time.  "I think perhaps if they've got a couple of months to prepare for it, that quarterly meeting, perhaps they can be a little more substantive"

Chelan County Commisioner Shon Smith, who voted no and noted the public comment period Monday included three participants and lasted nine minutes total, with only two participants making comments related to COVID response or vaccine issues.

The motion was defeated with only one vote in support, cast by Sutton with Alma Chacon abstaining.

Board Chair Jerrilea Crawford says the subcommittee could still come back and propose changes to how public comment is handled in the fiuture.

"That would be something that could be considered in rules and procedures and adopted differently in the future, I'm going to guess propably not,  given the current vote on that particular topic".