Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Boards And Commissions topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Public comment criticizes local boards for low attendance and missed grant opportunities
Summary
A public commenter who has attended multiple board and commission meetings since September criticized chronic low attendance and decisions not to pursue grant funding at several city authorities; the commenter urged the council to address the problem.
A resident who attends board and commission meetings told the City Council that several municipal boards have shown persistently low attendance and that some bodies have declined to pursue grant funding for needed projects.
The commenter said she has attended housing-authority meetings, water-and-sewer board meetings and airport-authority meetings and described recurring problems: housing-authority meetings often lacked a quorum, water-and-sewer meetings sometimes lasted only 15 minutes, and the airport authority decided not to pursue grant money for runway and ramp work.
“...a 15 minute meeting, if you're only meeting once monthly, there is no efficient or productive work done in 15 minutes,” the commenter said. She added that the airport authority had missed funding opportunities that would be “vital to revitalizing the east ramp of the airport” and to runway repairs.
Council members did not record formal action at the work session in response to the comment, but the council discussed board appointments elsewhere on the agenda and noted that expired appointees often continue to serve until replacements are appointed. Council staff said they would follow up on appointments and encourage attendance so boards can legally conduct business.
