STARS board moves to vacate absent member, shortens minutes and reappoints leadership

During its Jan. 15 meeting the STARS Management Advisory Board voted to ask the clerk to begin a vacancy process for a board member who had missed three consecutive meetings and did not respond to outreach. Board members described outreach efforts by Amber and Jasmine and indicated they had not received a response.

"The lack of a response I think is probably the compelling part of this," said an advisory board member during the discussion of next steps, noting the board wished to avoid creating a precedent that would exclude members with legitimate, documented excuses.

The board also debated the format of meeting minutes. One member moved that minutes be abbreviated going forward and posted in a timely manner alongside meeting video; the motion passed by voice vote after members said abbreviated minutes save staff time and the public can review video if they want the full record. Staff confirmed that a previous technical issue that had kept some 2024 videos offline had been fixed and that videos and minutes now appear on the city site.

On leadership, the board nominated and reappointed Neil Montgomery as chair for a one‑year term and elected Bill Morris as vice chair by voice vote in accordance with the board’s administrative code.

The board directed the clerk to send the vacancy letter to the non‑responding member and asked staff to implement abbreviated minutes while ensuring videos remain accessible to the public. The clerk and staff are expected to report back on implementation at the next meeting.