Urbana Arts Commission to continue bylaws revision; members vote to place edits on February agenda

The Urbana Arts and Culture Commission spent a substantial portion of its Jan. 13 meeting reviewing proposed edits to its bylaws and voted to continue the discussion at the commission’s February meeting.

Commissioners raised several recurring issues: the commission’s formal name should be updated to the Urbana Arts and Culture Commission where the older text still says Public Arts Commission; the appropriate number of seats (the draft currently references nine seats) and quorum rules; term lengths and limitations; and whether a secretary position should be retained or clarified given historical practice by city staff.

Discussion points included whether to keep a fixed nine-member board or adopt a range (for example, 5–9) to ease seat-filling and whether a commissioner or city employee should handle secretary/minute-taking duties. Commissioners emphasized recruiting members who are invested in Urbana’s arts ecosystem and noted the city clerk and legal department will need to review substantive edits.

A motion to add the bylaw edits to the February meeting agenda carried by voice vote. Commissioners suggested capturing minor typographical corrections via a subcommittee or email iterations and reserving larger structural changes for a formal study session. Staff will collect marked edits and follow up with the city clerk on next procedural steps.

Next steps: the commission will continue editing, potentially hold a study session, and then route substantive changes to the city legal department or city council as required by ordinance and code.