Staff to conduct research into various issues
During their regular meeting on March 11, conducted in Venice, the Sarasota County commissioners unanimously agreed to a recommendation by Commissioner Teresa Mast for staff to research potential changes in regard to the county’s advisory boards.
Among Mast’s recommendations is the implementation of term limits for all advisory board members and a modification of the process that staff uses in advertising open seats on those boards.
As Mast put it, she was seeking “a clean-up on our advisory boards.”
“There are lots of individuals that have reached out to me that said they would like to serve on boards that have had individuals that have served a long, long, long time,” she told her colleagues. While the commissioners appreciate that service, she continued, “it gives [other people] a chance to also volunteer their time.”
Further, Mast pointed out, the guidelines for some of the county’s advisory boards call for members to resign from those boards immediately prior to filing for elected office, “so we don’t have conflict of interest.” She proposed that that be a requirement for all advisory board members.
The Planning Commission, which makes recommendations to the County Commission on land-use petitions, is among those that calls for its members to resign before they file for public office.
By count of The Sarasota News Leader, the county has 36 advisory boards. They are grouped under five headings: “Community Services,” “Environment,” “Finance,” “Planning, Zoning & Licensing,” and “Transportation.”
During the March 11 discussion, Mast noted of her request, “I believe that would be what I would call a ‘Board Assignment.’ ”
That is the term that county staff uses to characterize the type of research-and-report process Mast was seeking.
“That’s a great idea,” Commissioner Ron Cutsinger said. “I support it.”
County Administrator Jonathan Lewis told the commissioners that he was not certain of the timeline — as he was relatively new on staff, as an assistant county administrator — but he believed that the last time “a comprehensive review, at the [commission’s] request, of all of the advisory boards” was completed in 2017 or 2018.
(During their regular meeting on June 6, 2017, the county commissioners directed then-County Administrator Tom Harmer to dissolve three advisory boards, based on a Board Assignment that staff had provided to them at their request. The affected boards were the Fire/Rescue and EMS Advisory Board, the Pest Management Advisory Board and the Well Drilling Advisory Board, as noted in the Action Agenda following that meeting. The Board Assignment had recommended that action.)
(As noted in a staff memo for the 2017 meeting, during their December 2016 retreat, the commissioners added to their major initiatives for the 2018 fiscal year “a comprehensive review of current citizen advisory councils, including recommendations for modifications to optimize our overall program, eliminate waste, and provide clear direction to our dedicated advisory council members.”)
During the March 11 discussion, County Administrator Lewis sought clarification in regard to whether Mast also was seeking such a review. She responded, “I’d like us to do a thorough review of all of our advisory boards. Some of ’em, I don’t know if we even need anymore. I’m not saying that they’re not important,” she added immediately. Nonetheless, Mast pointed out, “Sometimes as we morph and change as a community, maybe we’ll even identify some that we don’t have.”
She also emphasized that she wanted to “make sure that we have equitable and fair term limits so that a lot of our citizens can participate in these,” along with a change in the county’s advertising process for the open seats on the advisory boards.
On a number of occasions in the past, commissioners have asked staff to re-advertise for applicants for open advisory board seats when only one application had been submitted to staff for commission consideration.
Lewis thanked Mast for the clarification. He also noted that, while staff generally can complete board assignments within 30 days, “That particular one will take a little longer than normal …”
“I totally respect that,” Mast replied. If staff completed the work within six months, she added, she would be pleased. “I understand there are quite a few [county advisory boards].”
Lewis estimated a 90-day timeline.
Mast made a motion including the direction to Lewis that she had discussed, and Commissioner Cutsinger seconded it.