Multnomah County approves community budget advisory committee appointments; OCI outlines recruitment and data plan

The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 20 approved R1, the appointments to the county's community budget advisory committees, after the Office of Community Involvement outlined plans to increase recruitment, track demographic representation and monitor attendance.

Amada Perez, director of the Office of Community Involvement, told the board OCI has "already formed a work group with CBAC coordinators to develop a policy and procedure guidebook," and said the office will implement procedural and programmatic changes to follow recently adopted code updates.

The appointments were moved by Commissioner Singleton and seconded by Commissioner Joan Dixon. In a roll-call vote Commissioners Moyer, Singleton, Brim Edwards, Jones Dixon and Chair Vega Peterson voted yes; the motion carried and the appointments were approved.

Why it matters: The county is updating how it staffs and supports the community budget advisory committees (CBACs), which provide departmental budget input and community feedback. Perez said OCI will shift from ad-hoc outreach windows to year-long recruitment, adopt a new volunteer management platform and centralize participant data to produce regular demographic and participation reports.

Perez told the board the office will implement Better Impact, a volunteer-management system used elsewhere in the county, and will "collect and centralize participant data" to monitor attendance, absences, communication and vacancies. OCI plans to revamp the application and onboarding process, recruit community-based organizations as local "recruiters," and work with district offices to set recruitment goals.

Board members pressed for details on geographic representation and selection. Commissioner Jones Dixon said she had asked that the item be on the regular agenda so the board could discuss representation by district. Perez said OCI will add district of residence to the application and will set recruitment goals after assessing existing committees' composition.

Perez briefed the board on outcomes from the most recent application cycle: 12 applicants were not selected; seven withdrew; one selected candidate was not accepted because they were employed by Multnomah County; one selected applicant was already on a Joint Office advisory board and thus ineligible; one applicant withdrew after applying; one applicant was not selected through the interview rubric; and one was not selected due to an administrative error.

Several commissioners thanked Perez and her staff for the work and encouraged continued outreach. Commissioner Moyer read bios of appointees and said she would "take their recommendations seriously" and noted the importance of the CBACs' continued advisory role on budget matters.

What's next: Perez said OCI will finalize onboarding materials, launch Better Impact to begin centralized recordkeeping, and provide ongoing snapshots of committee demographics and participation. Perez said the CBAC improvement work will be the focus of OCI's work this year and that the office will report back with refined procedures and monitoring tools.

A member of the public, Charles Johnson, urged that OCI maintain a central public-facing list of departmental advisory committees and their membership so residents can see representation by district.

The board recorded the approved appointments and moved on to the next agenda item.