Sarah Johnston, City Attorney

There have been numerous discussions over the several months expressing interest in amending the number of City advisory boards, the scope of the advisory boards, and revising eligibility criteria.  The majority of the advisory boards are contained in chapter two of the City Code which requires clean-up amendments throughout and the addition of quasi-judicial and ex-parte procedures.

Any combination of the proposed amendments will need to happen over several revisions and many of these changes are very important for the progression of City business.  This will be an extended process because it will occur over several code amendments, this is the first amendment needed to initiate the process.

The first phase of the proposed amendments is to consider the following;

Does the City Commission want to keep and/or revise the scope of the advisory committee for disabled individuals, budget review commission, economic development commission, safety and accident review board, and safety commission;

Should the eligibility for board members be revised to exclude registered lobbyists? At a recent meeting the Commission expressed concern with a registered lobbyist serving on a City Board – I have included language to codify that as a preclusion from serving on any advisory boards.  

Should Roberts Rules of Procedure apply to all advisory boards?  The existing code language does not clearly establish Robert Rules of Order as governing advisory boards – the proposed change includes clearer language. 

Examples of provisions not include but for consideration:

Qualification as candidate for office deemed tender of resignation. No member of any city board shall become a candidate for elective political office during his or her term. Should any member of a city board qualify as a candidate for elective political office, such qualification shall be deemed a tender of resignation from such board as of the date on which the member qualifies for elective political office.

Endorsing candidates, etc. No city board shall endorse candidates for public office, or support a particular position on a public question scheduled to appear on an official governmental ballot, or poll candidates for public office as to their views, or engage in any other form of partisan political activity as a city board. Nothing contained in this subsection shall be deemed to prohibit any individual member of such a board from expressing a personal opinion on any candidate or issue or from participating in any political campaign during hours not serving or performing board functions, so long as such activities are not in conflict with other provisions of state, county, or city law. Should any member of any city board violate this section, in the opinion of the city commission, such violation shall be deemed a tender of resignation from the board.

I have also included a list of all the advisory boards below. 

Article VII. - Boards, Committees and Commissions

1. 2-33 - INDEPENDENT CITY AUDITOR. 2-34, 2-35 - RESERVED.
2. 2-36 - ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR DISABLED INDIVIDUALS. 2-37—2-39 - RESERVED.
3. 2-40 - BUDGET REVIEW COMMISSION. 2-42, 2-43 - RESERVED.
4. 2-44 - CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE.
5. 2-45 - CITIZENS COMMITTEE ON RECREATION. 2-46 - RESERVED.
6. 2-47 - CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD.
7. 2-48 - MULTI-CULTURAL COMMITTEE.
8. 2-49 - ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION. 2-50 - RESERVED. 2-51 – RESERVED 2-52 - RESERVED.
9. 2-53 - LIBRARY BOARD.
10. 2-54 - PARKS AND BEAUTIFICATION COMMISSION.
11. 2-55 - PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION.
12. 2-56 - REDEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD.
13. 2-57 - RISK MANAGEMENT REVIEW COMMITTEE.
14. 2-59 - SAFETY AND ACCIDENT REVIEW BOARD.
15. 2-60 - SAFETY COMMISSION.
16. 2-61 - POLICE AND FIRE PENSION BOARD.
17. 2-62 - GENERAL EMPLOYEES PENSION BOARD.
18. 2-63 - SENIOR CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
19. 2-64 - GENERAL MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEES PENSION BOARD. 2-65 - RESERVED.
20. 2-66 - COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN.
21. 2-67 - PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD.
22. 2-68 - VETERANS ADVISORY COORDINATOR.
23. 2-69 - YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD. 2-70—2-72 - RESERVED.