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Hooper council debates point-based selection for planning commission, tasks attorney to draft committee approach
Summary
Council members and residents criticized a proposed weighted scoring and multi-interview selection system for planning commission appointments as overly complex and subjective. The council asked legal counsel to draft ordinance language to establish a smaller interview committee and clarify the collective-appointment process.
Residents and multiple council members told Hooper City Council on Dec. 4 they oppose a proposed ordinance that would change how planning commissioners are selected, calling the draft process overly complicated and subjective.
Public commenter David Craig urged the council to reconsider an ordinance that, he said, would replace a simple appointment process with questionnaires, weighted scores and multiple interviews that could require applicants to attend several separate interviews because of quorum restrictions. "It introduces subjectivity, and it shifts appointment authority in a way that doesn't strengthen our city," Craig said during public comment.
At the meeting the council spent nearly an hour discussing a draft amendment to Article 8 (planning and zoning commission) that envisions a weighted scoring system and formalized interviews for applicants. Several council members said that while interviews are valuable, the detailed point system is excessive. One council member summarized the alternative many favored: a small committee — consisting of the mayor, one council member, the planning commission chair and the city planner — conduct interviews and make a recommendation to the full council for confirmation.
Mayor Sherry Bingham noted that most Utah cities use mayoral appointment with council consent and that the city's prior ordinance was unclear about what "collective" appointment meant; she and others said they wanted a written procedure. Council Member Speaker 3 (the council member who presented the draft) asked the attorney to draft ordinance language reflecting a committee-based interview process. The council set the draft to return at a subsequent meeting for review.
No formal vote on the ordinance was taken at the Dec. 4 meeting; instead the council tasked legal counsel to prepare ordinance language clarifying the appointment committee and candidate-interview process.
