AUGUST 6, 2009 ISSUE
Boone Council Looks To Rein in Committees
In efforts to comply with statewide open meetings law and reduce the workload of planning staff, the Boone Town Council is moving to exert increased control over town-appointed committees.
The council now holds the power to determine which committees can select their own chairs and vice chairs and which cannot. The council will consider an amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) to prohibit committees from drafting or directing staff to draft proposed amendments to the UDO before the council has approved the recommended changes. The council will also vote on a UDO amendment that prohibits several town committees from creating subcommittees or workgroups without council approval.
Both the approved and proposed changes have frustrated several town committee members, who argue that the increased regulations will slow their ability to complete their work.
On June 18, the town council voted 4-1 to give itself power over selection of committee leaders. As part of the code amendment, the council can authorize certain committees to select their own chairs or vice chairs, however.
Council member Stephen Phillips voted against the amendment, arguing that all committees should have the power to make leadership decisions.
“If you don’t trust the members, you shouldn’t appoint them in the first place,” Phillips later said at the July council meeting.
But council member Janet Pepin said the town council should know ahead of time the kinds of leaders it is looking for in its committees, adding, “This gives us a choice.” Council member Rennie Brantz said he would like to see the council play a larger role in committees.
On July 16, the council voted to authorize the following committees to select their own chairs and vice chairs: Cable TV Advisory Board; Jones House Advisory Board; Fourth of July Planning Committee; Greenway, Parks & Gardens Committee; Affordable Housing Task Force; Outside Agency Funding Committee; Transportation Committee; Water Study Committee; Walk Boone Subcommittee; Gardens Subcommittee; Greenspace Preservation Subcommittee; and Water Conservation Subcommittee.
The council did not act on the Board of Adjustment, Community Appearance Commission, Housing Authority Board, Planning Commission, Tree Board, Tourism Development Authority or Historic Preservation Commission. The ABC Board chair is already selected by the council as mandated by the state.
At the quarterly public hearing held on August 3, the Boone Town Council and Boone Planning Commission met jointly to hear public comments on several items, including proposed UDO amendments affecting town committees.
Town planning staff presented a requested amendment to Article 21 of the UDO that states that staff and other town entities can only make recommendations to the council regarding potential desired changes to the UDO. Only after the council has approved the changes can the draft text be prepared by a town administrator or the town attorney. Previously, Article 21 authorized the council, Planning Commission, Board of Adjustment, Community Appearance Commission and town administrators to direct town staff or the town attorney to draft proposed text amendments and present them to the council.
Staff also presented a recommended UDO amendment to modify the administrative mechanisms for the Planning Commission, Community Appearance Commission, Tree Board and Board of Adjustment.
The proposed text changes include a statement that each committee comply with the state open meetings law by providing public notice of all meetings, holding meetings open to the public and recording minutes. The text changes also prohibit said committees from creating subcommittees or workgroups without council approval and prohibit those committees from directing staff to take action requiring the use of town funds without authorization from the council.
Town attorney Sam Furgiuele and council members have said that several subcommittees have not been complying with open meetings law and that the town clerk has not been able to keep track of all the subcommittees that have been created.
Planning Commission Chair Bunk Spann took issue with the proposal to subject the creation of subcommittees to council approval, arguing that if the commission is limited in appointing workgroups, it will take more time to do its work.
“It seemed to be unnecessary to me,” Spann said.
But Council member Lynne Mason said the Planning Commission meets 10 days before the council meets, which means there “shouldn’t be extreme delay” in having subcommittees approved.
A major concern of town planning staff is the amount of work assigned to them by committees and subcommittees. In the past two weeks, three different UDO committees have called the planning department to assign work, said Jim Byrne, interim director of Boone Development Services, the town’s planning department.
“I don’t have the staff to do it,” he said. The situation is somewhat out of control, he added, when a board member can call up staff and ask them to do work. Pepin added that the council itself is not in the position to direct staff—that’s the town manager’s job.
Jay Vincent, Planning Commission member, asked if he and two other committee members were asked to meet together to study an issue and report back to the full group, would they be subject to open meetings law? Furgiuele informed him that it would.
“Is it in the council’s best interest to be micro-managing?” Vincent later queried.
The council will likely vote on the proposed UDO amendments at the next monthly council meeting, scheduled for Thursday, August 20.
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