County attorney and board agree to remove routine 'correspondence' from agendas

County attorney Grant led the board through legal and practical concerns about reading correspondence during meetings, noting potential First Amendment problems and the administrative burden of reviewing large volumes of messages for confidential information. "One of the concerns we had is, you know, kind of the 1st amendment concern of if we start reading things, everything that comes in, are we then creating a public forum?" he said.

Grant and supervisors discussed alternatives, including publishing only intergovernmental correspondence or putting individual letters on the agenda as separate items. A supervisor summarized the board's preference: "I truly, I think the easiest way would just be do away with the correspondence." The board agreed to remove routine "correspondence" from future agendas and to bring intergovernmental letters forward as standalone agenda items when appropriate; staff will treat other incoming messages through normal public-records processes (FOIA/public information requests) if the public requests them.