Remarks by Shinica Thomas
64 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 3
- Play at 38:12
“I think when we talked about this before, you did have examples. Yes. Can you please share that again? Yes. Because I don't see it on any of these slides. Yes. Thank you. Yeah, we heard a bridge version today.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 47:33
“Thank you. Thank you for the answer, David. I think that as we've been having conversations with the NCACC about property tax and cuts to revenue for all counties, one of the things we've talked about is the business community and their advocacy. We've also talked about folks that are impacted like the Sheriff's Association and the School Board Association and the League of Municipalities. And so I think that it's important that everyone advocate together because it's going to affect all of us. But my question is when we look at these things, what does the timeline look like? I'm thinking…”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 50:44
“I appreciate that. I think that when I look at the potential criteria to evaluate programs, I think that they're all important, of course, and I think about operational feasibility, right? And so when we start talking about that and when the team starts talking about that, I think it's important for us to be able to have a conversation so that we understand and you don't have one commissioner or two commissioners that are advocating for something that is not operationally feasible with these budget cuts. And when we talk about the impact on vulnerable populations, we are going to have to make…”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 59:26
“I was gonna say that that is correct. Some people are more aggressive with their advocacy than other organizations but the ncacc is trying to take a lead in making sure that everyone understands especially because they formed the property tax committee and so just making sure everyone's informed on what's being talked about there and when i say everyone i mean the other associations executive directors and executive boards And so there can be a coordinated effort after the election to mitigate whatever the impact of those constitutional amendments are and make some recommendations from the…”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:20:41
“that I think similarly I would not prefer a reoccurring time slot I think that it's important to be able to hear from different colleagues at different times also with two new commissioners it gives us an opportunity to get to know them and the way they think it gives them an opportunity to get to know us and the way we approach things so I would not like to see a reoccurring I also think with the vice chair and the chair I think having them in different sessions could be helpful. They can talk after the agenda reviews, but you get one person in leadership at the 11 and then at the 12, so I…”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:25:58
“I was just gonna ask, and Ben, I asked you this last year. I'd love to see the list of how you did the rotation. I'd like to see how you do the rotation before you start sending out the calendar requests.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:26:17
“Explain to me how it would delay it a little bit.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:26:23
“I'm not asking to have input. I'm just asking to see it. I'm not asking to change it.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:28:23
“The opportunity to be in the one with the chair. So everybody rotates.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:30:45
“And we did talk about, you know, David had talked about rotating the deputies through the agenda reviews and not every deputy being in every one or not him being in every one. So we talked about staff and how they could rotate as well.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:34:05
“Thank you. I appreciate you saying, Ben, about the discretion. And thank you, Commissioner Waters, for asking the question. I hadn't got to this slide yet in this discussion. I think that I don't have a problem with discretion. I brought it up in one of the most recent agenda reviews that I was in that I just don't want it to replace the opportunity for small groups because we only have 50 minutes. 50 minutes. And so if we're not, I don't want to rush through the agenda or think that because there is an update that happened recently in an agenda review. And I was like, well, if we didn't have…”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:45:10
“Okay, so bear with me. I have made lots of notes about this. I actually have several advantages of keeping committees. The first one is more flexibility for commissioners with demanding schedules. Committees allow commissioners to focus on their assigned responsibilities while participating in other committees when a subject is particularly relevant. So like Commissioner Evans just said, you can pop into a virtual meeting if there's something on the agenda, even though you're not part of the committee, but you don't have the obligation to be on that committee. So virtual meetings also reduce…”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:48:10
“I said I've been thinking about it. I've had a month or two.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:52:50
“Chairman, may I respond really quickly just to Tara's question, Commissioner Waters' question? You mentioned how often folks watch committees, and I think that comms can tell you there have been lots of times when the news reporters will do a story and broadcast our committee Jeopardy squares because they are watching as opposed to sometimes they will come here. But people watch our committees, and they will cut pieces out of that for news stories or whatever. for other presentations just like they will here or at a board meeting so i think it's it's very similar you just can't see them um…”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:58:50
“I do. So two things. One, when we talk about times for committees, it is not set in stone that you have to start a committee meeting at 10 or at 1 or whatever the time is. And I ask the question, I know Michael James and I, as a committee chair, I've had the option to say these are the dates that actually work for me as a chair, talk with the other members of my committee, and does the time, 10 or 11 or 12 or 1, work for me? So as a committee chair, you get to determine. It's not set in stone that you must have a 10 o'clock committee meeting. Is that not correct? It does have to fit into the…”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 2:00:08
“So again, the committee chair has the discretion to not have a meeting at 10 o'clock if that's their... As long as there's other slots available.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 2:00:18
“Right, okay. And then I have just one other comment. One of the things, and please take this in the spirit that it is intended, it is not easy to chair this board. And one of the things that I think being a committee chair does is it gives you practical experience managing meetings, facilitating discussions, shaping the agendas, developing recommendations, and working with staff. And I think that's really important as new commissioners come and join the board. Committee structures create opportunity to develop leadership experience beyond just the chair and the vice chair. And speaking as one…”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 2:15:42
“I'm happy to let Ben answer that question, but I thought it was because essentially we're going to nine commissioners, and we've got to figure out how many commissioners are going to be on a committee, how many people are going to get to chair a committee or not. We are trying to prepare for nine commissioners, so that is why we started the discussion in the first place, but I will defer to Ben.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 2:17:19
“So just a couple of things. One, yes, I agree with Commissioner Evans. I do not have to chair a committee. And I know that those are decisions that are made as far as committee assignments. Those are conversations that happen over the holiday. And so to that, I wanted to respond to what Commissioner Jackson said. And while I appreciate all of the questions and I appreciate that it takes time sometimes a little longer to, we get more questions as we have discussion, right, we get more questions and then we want answers to those, but I do not agree that we don't have to make some decision today…”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 2:18:47
“I'm just putting that out there for those of us contemplating not making a decision. I know the discussion is getting long, but also I'm looking at the timeline and being mindful of staff because staff has to come up with some sort of schedule and agenda and all the things, and then the leadership team that takes... Over in December on the 7th, we'll have to talk to the new commissioners, talk to all of us, and really work over the holidays to figure out which regional boards we're assigned to and which committee assignments. So I'm just asking the question that if we don't make a decision…”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 2:22:39
“I wanted to say that it's only your favorite committee because you weren't here when we had arts and culture as a committee. Touche.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 2:25:13
“I was going to say, I would like to just offer that we at least decide that we want committees or work sessions, and then we can do some of the other nuanced things. And I say that because again, we're talking about, we all can agree that we need to understand better how things move to the agenda for a regular meeting and what happens in committee versus what happens in work sessions. and how policy moves forward versus updates and procedural things. And so I think that that is a broader discussion and I'd love to have that discussion in November on the work session on the 8th so that we know…”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 2:29:09
“And Ben, will we see, there was a, the regional boards, will we, I saw there was a document that showed like when all of those meet, like for example, OSAPAC meets on Mondays. And so that will be taken into consideration as we do the schedule as well.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 2:29:41
“I mean, that's not a meeting for everyone, but we are assigned to regional boards, and that was one of the other things about adding another mandatory meeting for us to be at.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 2:30:08
“That wasn't a request, it was just a question.”
Board of Commissioners · Oct 12, 2026