McKinney council fills dozens of board seats, reappoints incumbents amid debate over term limits

The McKinney City Council on Aug. 26 approved a slate of appointments and reappointments to city boards and commissions, filling multiple vacancies and moving several alternates into member slots after discussing preferencing rules, term limits and prospects for changing how council members select appointees.

Council members and staff described the preferencing workbook process used to score applicants and said the listing before them reflected council members’ expressed preferences, not binding commitments. Empress (staff) told the council that “candidates on the listing were scored 1 point for each time the council preferenced someone,” and that members shown in red were either ineligible under council policy or had resigned.

Council members debated whether to honor the council’s term-limit guidance or to keep experienced members in place for continuity on high-impact “money boards.” Several council members said uncertainty about whether appointment rules will change next year influenced their votes. Councilmember Patrick Cloutier and others urged sticking to term limits to open seats to new candidates; other members said leaving some experienced members in place would preserve institutional knowledge for ongoing projects.

Votes at a glance

- McKinney Economic Development Corporation: Council voted to appoint Brian Lochmiller to complete a one-year remaining term and to place Chantelle Cadala as an alternate…