sr-021311-4eCity Council Meeting: February 13, 2011
Agenda Item: +~ _ £-
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Maria M. Stewart, City Clerk
Subject:. Policy for the Appointment of Emeritus Members to City Boards and
Commissions
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that after reviewing the information provided, Council take action to
eliminate the practice of appointing Emeritus members to Council-appointed boards and
commissions.
Executive Summary
At the October 26, 2010 Council meeting, Council directed staff to analyze existing
policy for making Emeritus appointments to Boards and Commissions. After reviewing
the history of Emeritus appointments staff found that there is no formal, written policy for
the appointment of Emeritus positions and that the existing positions have been created
either at the request of the City Council or at the request of a Commission.
Background
Currently only three Commissions include Emeritus members: The Commission for the
Senior Community, the Recreation and Parks Commission, and the Commission on the
Status of Women. All Emeritus positions are non-voting members.
In June of 1994, Council adopted an ordinance providing for the appointment of one or
more non-voting Emeritus positions for the Commission for the Senior Community at the
request of the Commission. This request was, as stated in the staff report: "... an effort
to officially utilize the talents of members who have served their allowable terms with the
Commission." The ordinance did not limit the number of Emeritus positions appointed
or the number of two-year terms that could be served.
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In October of 1999, the City Council amended the resolution that establishes policies for
city boards, commissions and regional advisory boards by adding term limits for board
and commission .members. The adoption of the current consecutive two-term limit, with
the option of a third consecutive term by atwo-thirds vote of Council, was partially
based on the solicited recommendations of the various boards and commissions. Eight
commissions recommended a maximum of two consecutive terms. Four commissions
recommended two consecutive terms, plus a possible additional term. One commission
recommended a maximum of five terms and two commissions recommended unlimited
terms. There was no mention or discussion of Emeritus positions when this action was
taken.
Comments from various commissioners in support of setting term limits included:
encouraging broad-based involvement in civic affairs; new membership to encourage
new ideas and modes of thinking; being welcoming. to a broad base of ideas and
constituents; and, that appointment of new members prevented the perception that
boards and commission are closed groups or cliques.
In September 2000 the Commission on the Status of Women requested Council to
adopt. an ordinance providing Emeritus positions to its Commission citing -the same
justification as the Commission for the Senior Community. Council directed staff to
create criteria for establishing new emeritus positions that would also cover the existing
positions with the Commission for the Senior Community.
In August of 2001, Council adopted an ordinance providing for a maximum of three
Emeritus positions on the Commission for Senior Community, and three on the
Commission on the Status of Women. The ordinance included the requirement for City
residency and provided for a maximum of two consecutive terms. Staff recommended
setting the two-term limit and stated in that staff report that the term limits "still allows a
commission to benefit from the contributions of emeritus members over time, without
excluding the potential for contributions from other prospective Emeritus
Commissioners."
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At the direction of Council, staff prepared and Council adopted an ordinance in
September 2008, providing for one Emeritus position on the Recreation and Parks
Commission setting a maximum of two consecutive two-year terms of service. Two
years later in September 2010, in response to a request from the Commission, Council
adopted an ordinance providing for a maximum of two Emeritus Commissioners with the
same residency and term limits requirements as those for the Commissions for the
Senior Community and the Status of Women.
Discussion
In reviewing the history of the creation of Emeritus positions, it appears that the purpose
of their existence is to retain the experience, training and institutional knowledge of
commissioners, and to allow atermed-out commissioner(s) to participate in seeing a
long-term project to its conclusion if at the time of the end of the term of a particularly
active Commissioner, the Commissioner is involved and in the middle of such an
important project(s).
Staff that works directly with the commissions that have Emeritus members provided the
following information:
Regarding the Commission that has two Emeritus members, staff reports that
neither Commissioner attends meetings regularly but instead the Commissioners
choose to focus on issues where they feel their particular area of expertise would
be valuable to the Commission or the community.
• In the second Commission that has Emeritus members; the members attend
meetings occasionally although due to their non-voting status, their impact is
minimal. From time to time, Emeritus members have participated in ad hoc
committees of the Commission.
• There have been no Emeritus positions appointed to the third Commission since
July 2010.
• Staff believes it would be helpful if criteria was established for the Emeritus
position rather than simply extending anon-voting term. Also, staff suggests that
that termed-out members can serve as part of an ad-hoc committee for the
commission, as needed.
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In addition, for future consideration, staff also discussed the importance of
.revisiting the roles, responsibilities, cost effectiveness and overall number of
existing advisory boards, commissions and task forces.
Taking into account the above information, staff believes that former members of boards
and commissions who have served the maximum terms can continue to contribute their
knowledge and experience without having to be appointed as Emeritus members.
Former members can contribute their opinions and input during public comment at
board and commission meetings. If a commission requires' extensive input from a
particular' former member, the commission members can accommodate that need as
necessary. For this reason, staff recommends the elimination of Emeritus
appointments. Staff recommends that the City Council allow the existing Emeritus
positions to complete their current terms and then eliminate the policy of Emeritus
appointments.
Alternatives
However, should Council prefer to have the option of appointing Emeritus positions,
Council may choose to continue the practice by appointing Emeritus positions only as
needed, on a case-by-case basis. Aboard or commission may appeal to Council for an
Emeritus appointment of a specific termed-out member whom the commission
considers essential to a project that is near completion. In such cases after
consideration, Council may choose to appoint the Emeritus member for a term ending
within six months or at the completion of the project, whichever occurs first.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
There is no fiscallbudgetary impact.
Prepared by: Maria M. Stewart
Approved:
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Maria M. Stewart
City Clerk
Forwarded to Council:
Rod Gould
City Manager
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