Local Government Citizen Advisory Boards - MRSC



Local Government Citizen Advisory Boards

Examples, options, and model practices for the effective and efficient use of

advisory boards by local governments

Copyright ? 2008 by the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher; however, governmental entities in the state of Washington are granted permission to reproduce and distribute this publication for official use.

Municipal Research and Services Center 2601 Fourth Avenue, Suite 800 Seattle, WA 98121-1280 mrsc@ 206.625.1300

August 2008 $30

Contents

The Role of Citizen Advisory Boards in Local Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Benefits of Using Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Types of Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Boards and Commissions Designated by Statute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Administrative Boards and Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Use of the Terms Board, Commission, and Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Classification of Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Creating Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Is a Volunteer Advisory Board Member a Public Officer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Who Makes the Appointments to Citizen Advisory Bodies? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Methods Used to Create an Advisory Body: Resolution, Ordinance, and Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Number and Size of Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Policies and Procedures for Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Purpose and Function of Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Staffing of Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Membership Criteria ? Qualifications for Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Citizenship and Residency Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Representation of Specialized Knowledge and Interest Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Demographic Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Prohibition of City and County Employees and Others Serving on Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Youth Involvement on Citizen Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Policies on the Recruitment of Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Why Citizens Volunteer for Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Expectations for Advisory Board Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Procedures for Recruiting New Board Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Invitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 The Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Policies on the Nomination and Selection Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Policies on the Method of Appointment and Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Policies on Temporary Appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Policies Regarding Service on More Than One Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Policies on Terms of Office and Reappointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Getting the Board Organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Bylaws and Rules of Procedure for Conducting Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Internal Organization of Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Providing a Work Plan for Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Attendance Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Setting Out Reporting Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Provisions for Review and Evaluation of Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Requirements for Open Meetings, Minutes, and Other Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Open Public Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Public Records Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Application of Appearance of Fairness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Application of Ethics Codes to Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Compensation of Advisory Board Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Appendices

Appendix 1 ? Statutorily Authorized, Mandatory and Discretionary Boards and Commissions . . . . . 1

List of City and Town Statutorily Mandated and Boards and Commissions under Certain Conditions List of City and Town Optional Boards and Commissions List of County Statutorily Mandated and Boards and Commissions under Certain Conditions List of County Optional Boards and Commissions List of Special District Optional and Mandatory Boards and Commissions

Appendix 2 ? Sample Application forms for Citizen Volunteer Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Snohomish Tacoma Tukwila

Appendix 3 ? Sample Policies and Procedures for Boards and Commissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Bothell City Council Protocol Manual, Section 2 ? Advisory Bodies, March 2007 Port Townsend Council Rules of Procedure, Article 4, Revised March 4, 2002 Puyallup City Council Rules of Procedure, Amended August 2003 Vancouver Policy and Procedure No. 100-06 ? City Council Advisory Committees, April 9, 2007

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Preface

The primary focus of this publication is on local government citizen advisory boards, but the publication also includes a brief discussion of statutory boards that are administrative in nature. For simplification, the use of the term advisory board in this publication generally includes boards, commissions, committees, and task forces.

There is no "one best way" to organize and administer local advisory boards. The procedural organization for advisory boards in larger jurisdictions may be more comprehensive and complex than is needed in smaller ones. To avoid conflict and confusion, MRSC recommends consistency in defining the roles and functions of various advisory bodies within the same governing jurisdiction.

There are many ways to incorporate advisory boards into the governance process. The purpose of this publication is to offer examples, options, and model practices for the effective and efficient use of advisory boards by local governments. This publication represents the collective work of many Washington local governments. Examples in this publication come from Washington local government codes, policies, and Web text. Sample text and illustrations were current at the time this publication was being prepared, but may have been subsequently changed.

Special acknowledgement is given to Lynne De Merritt, Senior Research Consultant for preparing this publication and Jim Doherty, Legal Consultant for legal review and editing. Thanks are also due to Lynn Nordby and Carol Tobin, Public Policy Consultants, for policy review, Connie Elliot for editing assistance, and to Holly Stewart, Desktop Publishing Specialist, for designing the publication.

Richard Yukubousky Executive Director

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In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

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