The Barry County Board of Commissioners discussed Tuesday when to interview applicants and when to waive them for those who sit on county boards and commissions. The commission decided if there are more applicants than positions, or if one person is applying for one position, but is not an incumbent, they should interview.

Otherwise, they will waive interviewing incumbents who reapply for their same positions.

One example, Commissioner and Chair Ben Geiger said, is the Commission on Aging board,  which has four openings and three incumbents re-applying.

Discussion brought up the issue of the size of some boards and possible changes in bylaws of some; that will be left up to individual boards, with final approval by the commission. Several ideas on how to attract more candidates will be set in motion.

Geiger proposed developing a flyer, a promotional, informational piece, to pass out to those thinking about applying for a committee with things one should know about serving to, “help commissioners make decisions for government.”

Commissioner David Jackson suggested using the county website to put broader descriptions and more details on different boards and their functions. Commissioner Howard Gibson advocated putting more information with the advertisement in the newspaper besides just the name of the position. 

The board will provide training for new members that will include their duties, policies on harassment and what they can and can not say on social media, among other things, “to make sure they’re same page,” Commissioner Heather Wing said.