Title
COUNCIL COMMITTEES
Staff Contact: Brent Stoddard, Director, Public Affairs
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Purpose and Policy Guidance
Recommendation
This is a request for Council to discuss and appoint membership to Council Committees for the 2017-2018 Fiscal Year, pursuant to the City Council Guidelines.
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Background
Section 9 of the City Council Guidelines specifies that the Council shall consider appointments to Council Committees at the first workshop in June of each year. There are currently three Council Committees, the Government Services Committee (GSC), the temporary Business Committee, and the Sustainability Committee which has been inactive since 2012.
Adopted City Council Guidelines, Section 9, pertains to the appointment of membership to committees and reads as follows:
9. COUNCIL COMMITTEES
At the first Workshop in June of each year, the Council will appoint membership to standing Council committees for the following fiscal year. The Mayor will ask the Councilmembers to indicate which committee they wish to serve on.
Each committee will be comprised of three members. The members of each committee will select their own chairperson at the first committee meeting. Councilmembers may not serve as Chairperson of more than one committee at a time unless the number of committees is greater than the number of Councilmembers. In that case, the limit is two chairmanships.
The council may form a temporary (one-year) council committee and allow a defined number of members of the public to serve on the committee. The three members of the committee will select a chair from amongst the councilmembers serving on the committee. The committee will sunset one-year after the date of the first meeting. Any sunset extensions must be approved by the city council.
Effective August 13, 2013, a two-year consecutive term limit with appointment annually for membership of councilmembers on Council subcommittees begins.
If new Councilmembers are seated prior to the annual selection of committee membership, the new Councilmembers will fill vacant committee positions for the remainder of the one-year term.
If any Councilmember wishes to add, delete or adjust any committee, the process indicated in City Council Guidelines, Section 2, “Placing Items of Special Interest on Workshop Agenda” is followed.
Analysis
The current members of the GSC are Councilmember Aldama (who serves as the Chair), Councilmember Tolmachoff, and Councilmember Malnar. The Guidelines specify that Councilmembers may only serve on the same committee for two consecutive years. Councilmembers Aldama and Tolmachoff were appointed to the GSC in June 2015, therefore their terms have expired.
As specified in the Council Guidelines, Councilmember Malnar assumed former Councilmember Sherwood’s seat on the GSC in November 2015. The Guidelines do not specify whether a member who fulfills the remainder of another member’s term is eligible for an additional two full terms. The GSC discussed this ambiguity on May 16, 2017 and there was consensus that an incoming Councilmember should be able to serve two full terms in addition to the partial term. If the Council agrees, Councilmember Malnar would be eligible to serve one more year on GSC.
Previous Related Council Action
On May 23, 2017, the Council amended the City Council Guidelines to allow for the formation of a temporary Council Committee that include appointed members of the public, the formation of a temporary Business Committee, and appointments of Councilmembers to serve on the committee for a one-year term.
On June 7, 2016, Councilmembers Malnar, Councilmember Aldama and Councilmember Tolmachoff were re-appointed to their seats on the GSC.
On November 10, 2015, Councilmember Malnar was sworn in as the councilmember for the Saguaro district and assumed former Councilmember Sherwood’s seat on the GSC.
At the June 2, 2015 Council Workshop, Council determined that Councilmembers Aldama and Tolmachoff would be appointed to join Councilmember Sherwood on the GSC.
On June 3, 2014, Councilmember Martinez resigned his seat on the GSC and Council met in Executive Session to consider his replacement on the committee. Councilmember Sherwood was selected to fill the vacated seat.
On September 10, 2013, Council amended, by Resolution 4722, the City Council Guidelines. The amended sections included: Placing Items of Special Interest on a Workshop Agenda (section 2), Selection and Responsibilities of the Vice Mayor (section 8), and Council Committees (section 9).
At the February 5, 2013 Council Workshop, Council determined that Councilmembers Chavira and Hugh would be appointed to join Councilmember Martinez on the GSC.
At the May 26, 2009 Council meeting, Council adopted, through Resolution 4269, the City Council Guidelines.