Safety Harbor staff recommend standardizing advisory boards, review attendance and term rules

City staff presented an advisory-boards matrix and asked the commission for direction on applicant recruitment, attendance rules, term lengths and reporting expectations.

The matrix showed 10 boards with 61 total seats and two vacancies (one on the Finance Advisory Committee and one on the Personnel Review Board). Staff reported seven applications on file across the boards and noted that terms vary (most are two years; some including the personnel-review and code-enforcement boards are three years). Current code provides that any board member who misses more than three meetings in a 12-month period automatically forfeits the appointment, and staff asked whether the commission wanted discretion to excuse absences for work travel, illness or other reasons.

Staff recommended standardizing meeting locations in City Hall so all meetings can be recorded consistently, exploring an on-call minute-taker to improve minutes quality, and providing annual training (e.g., Sunshine Law/public-records) for board members and liaisons. Commissioners discussed whether to permit limited excused absences, how to avoid applicant drop-off in large candidate pools, and whether commissioners should serve as non-voting liaisons to improve two-way communication.

Commissioners generally supported standardizing meetings in City Hall, improving outreach (including more community-based recruitment), continuing term limits but using commission discretion when qualified applicants are lacking, and creating more predictable meeting schedules so members can plan attendance.

Sources: City clerk and staff presentation (Nov. 3, 2025).