There wasn’t much on Tuesday’s county board agenda for the first meeting of the year.

 

Usually it’s just a list of organizational details - swearing in officers, signing agreements and appointing people to committees.

 

But with three new commissioners taking office at one time, those agenda items can take much longer.

 

Members of the county board are also members of different committees all over the state. Those committees cover law enforcement, health and human services, transportation, education and policy. Each commissioner reports back to the rest of board after they have attended a meeting to talk about those issues.

 

Typically, when a new commissioner comes on board, they inherit the committees of their predecessor. That wasn’t the case Tuesday, and it took over an hour to finally decide who would represent the county on each committee.

“This is an important part of what county board members do outside of board meetings,” said Administrator Steve Taylor.

 

He said the commissioners had different ways to choose their committees. They could follow their expertise and select committees where they had some experience. Or they could decide to learn something new and join a committee without any prior background.

 

Taylor said another issue was conflicts. Some committees met on the same day at the same time in different locations, so even if a commissioner wanted to be a member of a committee, it might not be possible.

 

What followed looked similar to the NFL draft pick process. Each commissioner took turns selecting from a list of more than 80 committees until there were none left.

 

Some of the committees selected were:

 

(Commissioner Lisa Fobbe) - Central MN Jobs & Training; Tri-CAP Transportation; Central MN Mental Health; Sherburne Soil & Water; SHIP Community Leadership Team and Princeton Airport Advisory Board;

 

(Commissioner Felix Schmiesing) - Minnesota Inter-County Association (MICA); MN Counties Intergovernmental Trust (MICA); Greater St. Cloud Development; Tri-County Forensics Lab; Tri-County Solid Waste and Law Library;

 

(Commissioner Barbara Burandt) - Community Health Services Advisory Board; Extension Committee; Early Intervention Committee; Council on Aging; Community Joint Powers Board and Central Minnesota Emergency Services;

 

(Commissioner Ewald Petersen) - MICA, Sherburne County Economic Development Authority (EDA); Options; Union Negotiations; Tri-County Forensics Lab and Waste Management Advisory Committee;

 

(Commissioner Tim Dolan) - Sherburne County EDA; Hwy. 25 Corridor Coalition; Greater MSP; Union Negotiations; Violent Crimes Task Force and Technical Steering committee.

 

When it was done, each commissioner had selected between 10 and 15 different committees. And some required two commissioners on each committee.

 

But it may not be over yet. Taylor said once staff goes though scheduling, some commissioners may have to swap committees if there are any conflicts, or be asked to serve as alternates on committees they didn’t select.