Cowlitz County staff roll out meeting changes and a standardized SBAR form to improve transparency

Kelly Grayson, clerk of the board, told the Cowlitz County commissioners’ meeting staff on Tuesday that the county has updated meeting times and added recurring department updates and liaison reports to promote transparency and public engagement. "Promote transparency, encourage public engagement, keep the community informed, and guide fair, accountable decisions," Grayson said, summarizing the office’s new public-meeting mission.

Grayson said the public calendar is updated with the new schedule and that Monday finance sessions will begin in April to give the board more time to address budget work earlier in the year. She described two distinct recurring sessions: budget-management reviews and quarterly department presentations at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, which are intended to give commissioners department-specific context and identify barriers requiring board direction.

To standardize how departments present issues, Grayson introduced an SBAR-style (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) form and a fillable template that staff can use to summarize what they are asking the board to decide. She said an electronic version is in development so submissions can be tracked in a database. On personnel requests, Grayson said the formalized workflow is still being worked on with finance and HR and is pending a Laserfiche form; a date for roll-out was not specified in the presentation.

Grayson also described modest operational changes the commissioner’s office will take on, including entering tort-claim data into an electronic tracker, assisting risk management with lost-and-found items and CPR training logistics, and working with finance on a refreshed budget dashboard that could allow commissioners to interrogate and discuss numbers rather than only review static reports. She described the dashboard as a work in progress and said staff are exploring options with IT and the finance director.

The presentation closed with commissioners asking clarifying questions about timing and scope. Staff asked commissioners to provide feedback on what data they want in the facilities inventory and other forthcoming materials. The board took no formal action on these items during the meeting; staff said they will return with forms, dashboard mock-ups and more detailed budget materials at a later date.