Rules committee forwards charter amendment to limit holdover service on city boards

At a special meeting of the Board of Supervisors' Rules Committee, members forwarded a first-draft charter amendment that would add section 4.101.5 to limit holdover service by members of city boards and commissions whose terms have expired.

The measure, presented by Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, proposes that "after 60 days you can no longer be a holdover appointment," a change McGoldrick described as meant to "clean up" longstanding problems with people remaining on boards "year after year after year." He said the intent is to prompt appointing authorities to act earlier and to preserve steady institutional practice rather than target any individual official.

Supporters and committee members said the amendment is a narrow charter fix. One committee member expressed support "for the policy" but asked how it would treat certain bodies; the transcript records that some entities — including the retirement board, health service board and certain arts bodies — were not intended to be covered by this charter amendment and that advisory and non‑charter bodies would be handled differently. Committee members suggested an ordinance could address non‑charter commissions.

In public comment, Jim Lazarus, speaking in his personal capacity, raised procedural concerns, saying, "My only concern would be whether the length of time is sufficient for the holdover," and warning a 60‑day cap "may result, I think, in vacancies on commissions from time to time, which makes it very difficult to get a quorum to act." Committee members and staff responded that the administrative appointment process often begins before the formal term end and that, in practice, the timing could provide more lead time than the plain 60‑day number suggests; other members noted past drafts had used 90 days.

The committee moved the charter amendment to the full Board of Supervisors "without objection" and asked the primary sponsors to work with the city attorney on parallel ordinance language that would cover non‑charter bodies. The committee also reported out additional committee items for the full board; no final adoption of the charter amendment occurred at the Rules Committee meeting.

The full Board of Supervisors will consider the draft charter amendment and any accompanying ordinance at a later date.