Council unanimously approves ordinance removing 'secretary' requirement from boards and commissions

The Mill Creek City Council voted unanimously on Jan. 7 to approve an ordinance amending the municipal code to remove the requirement that each board and commission have a "secretary" position.

Adrian Garcia, a management analyst, told the council that Mill Creek Municipal Code Section 4.02.070 currently requires each board or commission to have a chair, a vice chair and a secretary, and that in practice most bodies have only a chair and a vice chair while staff liaisons perform minute-taking and administrative tasks. "The secretary role is mostly like taking the minutes, uploading that to our website, putting the Zoom links on there, getting the material together," Garcia said. He recommended removing the secretary requirement and creating consistent bylaws for each board and commission.

Motion and vote: Councilmember Cavalieri moved to approve an ordinance amending the Mill Creek Municipal Code to remove the position of secretary from boards and commissions and to establish an effective date; Councilmember Allison seconded. The council voted and the motion passed unanimously.

Next steps: Garcia said staff will prepare bylaws for each board and commission, bring those bylaws to the planning commission (where applicable) and return them to City Council for final approval and posting on the city website.

Ending: The ordinance was adopted without recorded opposition. The council noted the amendment aligns formal code language with current practice and reduces the administrative burden on volunteer board members.