The Regional Housing Council spent significant time on governance with an outside facilitator, reviewing meeting agreements and debating how the council and its technical team should surface and advance policy recommendations to member jurisdictions.

Facilitator Amy framed three governance buckets: confirm agreements, consider strategies and address operations. Members discussed a range of process changes including a short referral form to place items on the RHC work plan, clearer thresholds for when an item requires jurisdictional approval and a mechanism for clarifying whether an elected RHC member is speaking for their full jurisdiction.

Robert Interpol proposed a one‑ or two‑page referral form to document items for potential policy recommendations; Carolyn Cox and others cautioned against creating burdens for smaller jurisdictions. Tom Water and staff urged that the tech team and advisory boards be engaged early so jurisdictions are not surprised by recommendations.

On staffing and the annual work plan, Ryan Andrews and Brad Medbrude reminded the council that the interlocal agreement currently assumes roughly a quarter FTE (about 520 hours) per jurisdiction for RHC activities; council members agreed that proposed work beyond that allocation should trigger an ILA amendment or explicit jurisdictional approval.

Members and advisory‑board representatives discussed advisory participation and voting. Several advisory members said they often feel their expertise or lived experience is under‑used and requested more meaningful roles. Some council members warned that giving advisory members full voting rights would change the bodyÕs structure and likely require ILA amendments. As a compromise, members suggested rotating a single advisory representative with voting status for a fixed term and adding structured agenda time to hear advisory input.

Tom asked the tech team to develop practical options on referral forms, staffing thresholds and advisory participation for council consideration in the coming months. The council scheduled follow‑up work and will reexamine the proposals during the RHC work‑plan process.