Commissioner says small-area planning committee may be eliminated after repeated quorum failures

Commissioners flagged persistent quorum problems for joint committees and floated a possible code change to remove the small area planning joint committee.

During committee updates, an unidentified commissioner said the small area planning joint committee "failed to make quorum again" and raised concerns about staff and commissioner time being used efficiently. Commissioner Skidmore said she expects to propose, in the new year, an initiation to amend the city code to eliminate the small area planning joint committee, arguing its work appears redundant with the planning commission and other boards.

Why it matters: Joint committees are intended to coordinate work across advisory bodies and staff. Repeated quorum failures can hinder that coordination; eliminating a joint committee would require a formal code- amendment process and further review.

Other committee notes: The chair also reported the South Central Waterfront Advisory Board canceled a recent meeting for lack of quorum. The updates contained no formal committee actions at tonight’s meeting.

Next steps: Commissioner Skidmore said she may bring a proposal to initiate a code amendment in the new year; no formal motion or vote was taken at this meeting.