Board approves implementation steps for new Advisory Committee policy and updates terms for county committees

The Chatham County Board of Commissioners on July 21 voted to implement its new Advisory Committee policy, updating committee applications, training materials and the timing of member terms for multiple county advisory bodies.

Staff briefing and changes Brenton Hart and county staff described implementation steps after the policy was adopted at the board’s June meeting: staff met with committee leads, revised the volunteer application to align with the policy’s eight qualifications, and began producing training videos on ethics and committee guidelines. The updated application removes mandatory employer/education questions and adds a residency-type question (owner, business owner, renter) to support limited exceptions the board may grant.

Terms and committee adjustments Staff proposed adjusted term expirations to stagger renewals so approximately one-third of members come up for reappointment each year. The board approved the staff recommendations for multiple committees (affordable housing, climate change advisory, environmental review, library, recreation and transportation) and voted to adopt the new applications and implementation steps.

A close vote on recreation committee composition The only substantive split came on the Recreation Advisory Committee reconfiguration. Under the policy change, the committee would move from two seats per district to one per district with additional at-large seats. Commissioner Franklin Gomez Flores objected to reducing the number of district seats and asked staff to return with a variant that would keep the overall committee larger; the board voted to adopt the staff plan in a 3–2 vote (Gomez Flores recorded a no vote). "I would be in opposition of going from 10 to 9 as opposed to going 10 to 11," Gomez Flores said during debate.

Process notes and next steps Staff will advertise current vacancies under the new terms, provide optional demographic reporting language on the application and make training materials available to committees. Hart and staff said committee leads have already begun sharing policy updates with members and that terms and reporting will be updated in the county’s appointment system.

Ending: The board approved the implementation motions and directed staff to continue outreach to committee chairs and to return if board members request further modifications to committee sizes or appointment procedures.