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Audit committee reviews proposed framework to evaluate and possibly sunset boards and commissions
Summary
City Clerk and staff presented a five-step framework for reviewing boards and commissions, including legal review, self-assessments, public input and a pilot of selected commissions. Committee members asked staff to include a clear staff recommendation and to refine survey language and approval processes.
City Clerk Stephanie Hollis and Jess Ferrer, assistant to the city manager, briefed the Audit and Finance Committee on July 16 on a proposed framework to review the city's boards and commissions. The framework is intended to help the committee and full City Council decide whether to continue, restructure, merge or sunset particular bodies.
Staff outlined five steps in the proposed process: identify active boards and commissions using criteria in city code; conduct a legal review to identify statutory or other legal requirements; expand the existing annual report into a structured self-assessment for boards and for the staff liaisons; solicit public and stakeholder input (for example by adding a public-input item on commission agendas); and compile the results into a condensed report with an executive summary. "The purpose of this report is really, to serve as a tool to help you make an initial recommendation on whether you want to continue the board or commission as is, recommend a restructuring ... or ultimately deciding whether you'd like to sunset that board or commission," Ferrer said.
Staff proposed a pilot to test the process with a set of commissions listed in Appendix A, including the Technology Commission, Economic Prosperity Commission, the MBE/WBE and Small Business Enterprise procurement advisory committee and the Airport Advisory Commission. Staff said they would return with pilot results in October.
Committee members discussed who should make recommendations based on the compiled data. Hollis said the initial approach was for staff to collect and present data without making recommendations, but committee members asked staff to present an analysis and recommendation alongside the data. "I personally would find it helpful for the people who've done the digging ... to say, after all this work, this is our analysis," Councilmember Alter said. Several members said staff recommendations would improve usability and prevent the committee from facing an unprocessed "data dump."
Members also urged care with questionnaire language used in self-assessments so responses are not defensive. Councilmember Phelan suggested avoiding "hot language" that might skew answers, and members discussed requiring that annual reports be approved by the full commission rather than completed only by the chair.
Votes at a glance: the committee approved the May 19, 2025 special-called Audit and Finance Committee meeting minutes earlier in the session. Councilmember Alter moved approval; Councilmember Vela seconded. The minutes were approved "without objection." No other formal committee votes were recorded during the sunset-framework briefing.
Staff will incorporate committee feedback on whether to include a staff recommendation in the pilot and will return with pilot results in October. The pilot is intended to simulate an annual cadence of reviewing five to seven related boards or commissions each year.
