Committee backs proposal to shift to three-year staggered terms and broaden naming recommendations

City staff presented proposed changes to the facilities naming policy on Thursday, including a move from one-year appointments to staggered three-year terms for committee members and expanded authority to make naming recommendations to the city council.

"Right now, everyone is appointed for a 1 year term ... We're going to ask council if you all agree to set those at 3 year terms and we will stagger them," Mr. Mills told the committee. He said officers (chair and vice chair) would remain one-year positions. The policy rewrite staff proposed would also let the committee bring forward naming recommendations without waiting for an explicit council charge, with council maintaining ultimate decision-making power.

Committee members generally supported not "painting ourselves into a corner" by limiting recommendation authority, but several asked that proposed changes be presented to council before taking effect. Mr. Mills said staff would draft the revised policy and bring it to a future council meeting for approval. The committee did not take a formal vote on the policy text at this meeting; staff described these proposals as recommendations to be carried forward to council.