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Agency staff to launch city-selection process for board seat; board defers chair election to February
Summary
Staff told the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency board on Jan. 9 that the agency will begin the city-selection process for a forthcoming city-appointed board seat; the board also agreed to defer chair and vice-chair elections to its February meeting and approved its Dec. 12 minutes.
At its Jan. 9 meeting the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency Board of Directors heard from staff about the upcoming city-selection process to fill a board seat and received the executive director's operational update.
Mister Thornberry, the agency's executive director, told the board the city-selection committee is "comprised of the mayors of the cities within the agency's boundaries" and that "one of the positions selected by the city selection committee must represent the largest city." He said the committee provides nominations and then votes from that ballot to select the appointee, and that in Yakima County the Yakima mayor will sit on that committee.
Board members agreed to begin the statutory selection process soon. The executive director noted the agency must act promptly because a personnel change will remove 20% of the board when the seat becomes vacant.
The board also handled internal business: members moved to place the agency's chair and vice chair elections on the February agenda rather than hold them at the Jan. 9 meeting. The motion to amend the agenda and add the elections to the February meeting was proposed and seconded during the meeting and the board agreed to the change.
The board approved the minutes of its Dec. 12 meeting by voice vote. No dissent or roll-call tally was recorded in the meeting minutes.
In his executive director's report, Mister Thornberry said the agency is working on better data collection and documentation, reassignment of duties to improve public responsiveness, and a forthcoming permit-review effort he expects to report back on within approximately six months. "We have not had a lot of [process and documentation] in the past so that has made us vulnerable to the departure of personnel who take that sort of knowledge with them," he said, adding the agency has made progress but still has more work to do.
Why it matters: The city-selection committee and statutory appointment process determine who will hold one board seat; filling the vacancy is time-sensitive because the agency's quorum could be affected. The executive director's described work on data, process documentation and permit review signals planned administrative changes.
What happened next: The board set the chair/vice-chair election for the February agenda, authorized staff to begin the city-selection process by moving forward expeditiously, approved the Dec. 12 minutes, and adjourned the meeting.
