Midway through his term, Yavapai County District 3 Supervisor Chip Davis wanted to rein in, rise up in the saddle and reconnoiter a bit.

Midway through his term, Yavapai County District 3 Supervisor Chip Davis wanted to rein in, rise up in the saddle and reconnoiter a bit.

As chairman of the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors, Davis played host to a retreat in Jerome at the old Clark School that civic volunteers have renovated into a Town Hall.

Davis opened the meeting with the recognition of Yavapai County as the largest employer and the largest single entity in the area.

The retreat attendees, which included key county staff, District 1 Supervisor Carol Springer and District 2 Supervisor Thomas Thurman, were asked, ?What is the county doing well, what do we need to improve on and what do we need to do to accomplish improvements??

Among the many items generated by those questions were issues regarding supervisor interaction, budget process, public communication, department head communications, supervisor micromanagement, open meeting laws, technology, developmental services, state government relations, maintaining all the county?s rivers, including the Verde, the Agua Fria and the Bill Williams, water management and others.

?It?s the Verde now but all of them will be in the headlines in the next 10 years,? Thurman said.

To the surprise of some, Springer said that the county ?needs to be involved in all the water groups,? not only the Upper Verde River Protection Coalition, of which she is a member.

Regarding the perception of anger between the supervisors, particularly Davis and Springer, Thurman noted that, ?It?s not a battle, but a debate.?

Springer bemoaned the problem of having to discuss everything in public and that that is what gives the appearance of anger toward each other.

?We have lots of different opinions,? she said to Davis.

Springer, in part, blamed the structure of a three-person board.

?In 2012, when we go to five supervisors, this issue will disappear,? Springer said.

Arizona?s open meeting laws prevent two members of a three-member government from talking to each other, since it constitutes a majority of the body.

County Administrator Jim Holst presented a host of current county growth statistics including a 401 percent increase in sheriff?s office and jail expenditures and a 181 percent increase in assessed valuation.