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Ms. Cushnie said she was concerned that it was not high on the DEM's list of priorities <br />and that at some point they needed to trust in them. Ms. Bell brought up Civil Service <br />training, the Sunshine Law, and procurement. <br />Mr. Joseph said she also brought up consolidating the water and sewer bills. <br />Ms. Cushme stated she would like to move on to another department or stick with the <br />Solid Waste and Wastewater Divisions within the DEM. <br />The Chair reminded the commissioners that they were on agenda item 6, prioritizing the <br />departments for discussion. He asked if they agreed on prioritizing five departments for <br />now and waiting for responses before continuing. He asked if there were any further <br />discussion on item 6, and both Mr. Joseph and Ms. Nicholson said yes. <br />Mr. Joseph was concerned with the draft letter presented. He said it was good but he <br />wanted to somehow make the letters available to the employees within the departments, <br />not necessarily by giving it to them but having it posted on the bulletin board. He wants <br />employees to be aware of what the Commission is doing and have the opportunity to send <br />the COGC a letter from their viewpoint. Otherwise, the COGC would only be receiving <br />input from management. <br />Ms. Nicholson agreed it would be helpful to receive information from employees but was <br />concerned it could be disruptive and questioned whether it was appropriate for employees <br />to provide feedback on their department to others, without going through their <br />supervisors. Ms. Garson said that was not a union issue and that it would not be a <br />problem for employees to make suggestions to an independent commission. <br />Ms. Nicholson said she was worried about potential retaliation, as the COGC minutes are <br />public. She suggested a broad recommendation might be that the County look toward <br />instituting a feedback system within each department for responses and suggestions. She <br />felt uncomfortable taking it directly to employees. <br />Motion: Mr. Joseph said that today the COGC heard from management that a small <br />percentage of employees is a problem, but he believed there were employees that could <br />point to a percentage of management as a problem. He moved for the COGC letter to be <br />posted on department bulletin boards so as to allow employees to give feedback. <br />Discussion: Ms. Garson said they might consider a separate posting for employees, <br />stating that responses could be made anonymously to her office for the Commission. She <br />could send the letter to all the directors, instructing them to post it for employees. <br />Mr. Joseph said he would amend his motion, if he could get a second; and Ms. Stremski <br />seconded his motion. <br />Vote: The Chair asked if there were any further discussion and upon none, asked for a <br />vote of all in favor. All commissioners voted in favor of the motion. <br />19 <br />