Agenda - Council Work Session - 06/14/2016

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CC Work Session 2. 1. Meeting Date: 06/14/2016 Information Title: Policy for the Recruitment, Application, and Interview Process of Appointing City Board and Commission Members Purpose/Background: The purpose of this discussion is to provide the City Council with feedback regarding the Boards and Commission Recruitment, Application, and Interview Process and to finalize the draft policy in hopes of adoption at the next regular City Council meeting. Recent Recruitment Processes The recent recruitment processes to appoint and reappoint board and commission members has been conducted based on the City Council's direction to simplify the incumbent reapplication process as listed within the attached draft policy. Although the revised policy has been reviewed, to -date, it has not been formally adopted. Staff is confident that the process is nearly seamless and the policy is ready for adoption. Staff would like the Council to know that the simplified process (not requiring incumbents to submit a formal application and re -interview) has been working very well and staff has received many positive comments, reaffirming the comments made in an anonymous survey a few years ago, that a simplified process was desired. Staggered Terms Staff is seeking the City Council's direction on adding clarity to the policy pertaining to number two, section one which pertains to new members and maintaining proper staggering of terms (underlined text is new and was not included in the previous draft policy). Occasionally, the number of seats set to expire becomes unaligned, creating too many open seats at one time. Currently, the Policy for Appointing Boards and Commission Members is silent on how the maintenance of properly staggered terms should occur. However, a recent example of regaining the balance of properly staggered terms was demonstrated in March of this year on the EPB when a new EPB member was appointed. In an effort to regain a better balance of staggered terms, staff recommended, and the City Council approved, the appointment as a 2-year term (vs. 4 years) which corrected a situation that would have resulted in too many terms expiring four years from now. Excerpt of draft policy: 2) New member application process Periodically, when an unexpected vacancy on a board or commission occurs, the staff liaison to the commission will notify the Human Resources Manager who will take one of the following two actions: 1. Refer back to the most recent recruitment file in an effort to identify a viable candidate that has already successfully passed the interview process. If a candidate is identified and willing to serve on the given board or commission, the Human Resources Manager will consult with the City Administrator and act according to the City Administrator's direction; if applicable, a resolution appointing the new member will be presented to the City Council. If realignment is necessary in order to regain proper term staggering, the Human Resources Manager, in cooperation with the City Administrator, will make the necessary adjustment and a resolution will be brought forward for City Council consideration; or 2. Prepare a detailed notice of position availability for publication once in the City newsletter and in the City's official newspaper, as required by the Charter. Charter Commission When the policy was last discussed with the City Council, the Council directed staff to remove any reference to the Charter Commission since the Charter Commission appointments are made by the Tenth Judicial Judge, not per the