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Proposed Amendments to Advisory Board Recruitment & Appointment Policy and Rules of Procedure for Town of Carrboro Boards & Commissions Administrative Policy
PURPOSE: The purpose of this agenda item is for the Town Council to consider amendments to the Advisory Board Recruitment and Appointment Policy document, and the Rules of Procedure for Town of Carrboro Boards and Commission Administrative Policy. Proposed amendments to these policies were identified at the March 14, 2023 Town Council work session.
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Department
DEPARTMENT: Town Clerk
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Contact
CONTACT INFORMATION: Wesley Barker, Town Clerk, wbarker@carrboronc.gov <mailto:wbarker@carrboronc.gov>, 919-918-7309
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Council Direction
COUNCIL DIRECTION:
_X__ Race/Equity ____ Climate ____ Comprehensive Plan ____Other
Council Direction Statement
The Advisory Board Recruitment & Appointment Policy includes information that works to recruit a diverse applicant pool from the community, and to also give direction on how these applicants are brought forth to the Town Council for appointment considerations as it relates to a diverse applicant pool. This policy has been reviewed using the Racial Equity Lens and the Racial Equity Commission (REC) has reviewed and offered comments/feedback. This completed lens can be found in Attachment D with feedback in red text from the CORE team & REC. Further, the Rules & Procedure of Town of Carrboro Boards & Commissions Administrative Policy is a policy used internally primarily by staff liaisons and board chairs. Although this administrative policy is similar to the Recruitment & Appointment Policy, it does have varying guidelines. As a result, this administrative policy will soon be evaluated also using the Racial Equity Lens.
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Information
INFORMATION: The Advisory Board Recruitment & Appointment Policy is a document which is utilized and guides staff in the recruitment, application and appointment process of town Advisory Boards, Commissions, Committees and Task Forces. This policy was first adopted by Council on November 21, 2017 and has been amended several times since adoption, most notably adding in a section which provides guidelines for recruitment & appointment of diverse applicants.
At the March 14, 2023 Council Work Session, The Town Council recommended amending a section of this policy entitled “Attendance.” The reasoning behind this recommendation is due in part to ongoing concerns of some boards meeting quorums and being able to carry out necessary business items which are important, and often time sensitive, for the Town Council to be advised on. As a result, the recommendation was made to remove the following texts from the policy under Attendance: 1) “Unless the chair waives the requirements” 2) “The Town Clerk shall notify the char in writing as soon as a member becomes subject to removal under this section. The chair will have 10 days after receipt of such notice to waive the removal. If the chair fails to notify the Town Clerk in writing within 10 days after receipt of such notice that the automatic removal notice should be waived, the Town Clerk will send a removal notice to the member.” Essentially, this amendment, if approved by Council, would eliminate the chair from having the ability to waive any member presenting attendance issues, and the Town Clerk would send a notice to the member if notified of a member presenting an attendance issue by the chair or the staff liaison.
Further, there are a few minimal wording changes needed within this policy for the text to be uniform.
All proposed text amendments within the current Recruitment & Appointment Policy are included in Attachment B with comments provided.
Additionally, the Rules of Procedure for Town of Carrboro Boards & Commissions, was adopted at the same time as the Recruitment & Appointment Policy on November 21, 2017. The most recent amendment to this policy was September 13, 2022 regarding Remote Participation by Board & Commission Members. At the March 14, 2023 Council Work Session, a the Town Council recommended amending the Rules of Procedure to add a section entitled “Attendance” which would be the same text contained within the Recruitment & Appointment Policy, the Town Code Chapter 3 sections, and the LUO portions, which will read: 1) “The chairperson or staff liaison shall file or cause to be filed with the Town Clerk an attendance report after each meeting identifying those members who were present or absent. The chair or staff liaison of each board shall notify the Town Clerk on an as needed basis if there are members that are presenting attendance problems.
2) Members shall be removed if they are absent from three consecutive meetings or if they miss more than thirty percent (30%) of the meetings during a twelve-month period. This removal shall be effective on the date of such notice.”
All proposed text amendments to the Rules of Procedure document are included in Attachment C with comments provided.
If the Town Council wishes to approve the proposed amendments to both policies, a resolution to approve is included in Attachment A.
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Fiscal and Staff Impact
FISCAL IMPACT: There are no fiscal or staff impacts associated with this proposed text amendment.
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Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommend that the Town Council consider approving the suggested text amendments to both the Advisory Board Recruitment & Appointment Policy and the Rules of Procedure for Town Boards and Commissions document by approving the resolution provided in Attachment A.
It is further recommended that the Town Council review the completed racial equity lens in Attachment D with the feedback offered by the CORE team and REC (in red text) based on the current Recruitment & Appointment Policy. Upon direction by the Town Council, an agenda item could be added to a future meeting to discuss additional amendments to the Recruitment & Appointment Policy based on this feedback.
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