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Council begins overhaul of advisory boards and committees; first reading advances ordinance and templates
Summary
City staff outlined a year-and-a-half effort to modernize Seaside’s boards, commissions and committees, proposing an ordinance (legal rules) plus a policy and prefilled committee charters; council held a first reading of the ordinance and directed staff to add timing triggers and circulate templates.
Staff framed the package as a modernization effort intended to standardize roles, recordkeeping, public-notice practices and annual reporting across all city advisory bodies.
"The ordinance creates the legal foundation for what they do and the policy is more the practical guidance," Spencer told the council. He said the approach separates items that should be codified in city code from practical operating guidance that the council can update by resolution.
Key elements include: an ordinance to establish baseline legal requirements (appointments, terms, quorum, removal, duties), a policy to document recruitment and orientation practices, and a template 'charter' for each committee that would be adopted after the ordinance is in place. Staff emphasized that charters would define committee-specific scope, membership exceptions (for example business owner representation for the airport committee) and whether a body has a council liaison or staff liaison.
Councilors asked staff to add a 60-day advertising trigger for upcoming vacancies, to clarify how many committees a volunteer may serve on (staff proposed allowing service on two committees, with exceptions), and to re-circulate charter templates to existing committees for targeted feedback. The council approved a first reading of Ordinance 2026-06 by title only and asked staff to return with revised language for second reading.
