Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Governance Values topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Regional Housing Council narrows mission, values and governance ahead of November session
Summary
Facilitator-led workshop at the Oct. 22 meeting produced a council vision (every Thurston County resident has stable housing and services), and members worked through a draft mission and five proposed values — collaboration, accountability, equity, transparency and responsibility — with staff to operationalize definitions and next steps.
The Thurston County Regional Housing Council spent the latter portion of its Oct. 22 meeting refining a vision statement and working through a draft mission and core values ahead of a governance session scheduled for Nov. 12.
Facilitator Amy Linacre led the session. Tom (staff) read the council’s draft vision aloud: "Everyone in Thurston County has stable shelter or housing that they feel is safe and the services they need to thrive." The group confirmed the vision and then discussed a draft mission: "The Regional Housing Council is a collaborative regional effort to increase affordable housing and housing stability, and reduce homelessness in Thurston County by advising decision makers, advancing regional goals and educating the public." Several members said that operational actions and strategy will live alongside the mission and that the mission itself need not list every task the council will pursue.
The facilitator presented a short list of five candidate values — collaboration, accountability, equity, transparency and responsibility — and the council discussed what each should mean in practice. Members gave examples for each value: collaboration as meaningful engagement and shared planning across jurisdictions; accountability to people being served and to the public; equity as centering people facing the greatest barriers and tailoring diverse solutions; transparency as being open about resource limits, allocation and outcomes; and responsibility as following through on commitments and honestly communicating constraints.
Participants used a short survey and a live interactive tool during the meeting to capture feedback. The facilitator said she would draft one- to three-sentence operational definitions of each value based on the evening’s discussion and circulate a survey before the Nov. 12 meeting so members can confirm language and move into governance topics, including meeting agreements and operational structure.
Council members asked staff to circulate the draft vision and mission and the facilitator’s proposed value definitions in advance of the next meeting. Several members stressed the need to preserve the work product across membership changes and asked for mechanisms to orient new representatives to the agreed mission, vision and values.
