A Process Gets Explained

Appointments to the Governing Board of the Community Improvement Corporation get examined

Ocassionally in a government meeting, there comes an opportunity when a process or procedure is explained. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does happen, it usuallly comes in the form of questions from the meeting participants and it usually shines light on a previousy obscure process.

For those that were in attendance in Tuesday’s City Council meeting in Troy, the process of the Mayor’s appointments to boards and commissions received a few questions and a broken process was explained in a bit more detail.

For context, this publication discussed in detail about how the Mayoral process for appointing citizens to boards and commissions appears to be in serious need of reform. You can read our past work here:

During Tuesday’s Meeting, a motion was made by Lynne Snee, the Chairperson of council’s personnel committee to re-appoint five members to the Governing Board of the City’s Community Improvement Corporation. The five members include four city residents and a resident of Monroe Township. Two of the five members have served since 2021, one since 2019 and two since 2014. Of note, one of the members was also just re-appointed to serve another six-year term on the city’s Planning Commission.

Once the motion was made and seconded, a few questions were asked by Council Members about the process. A transcript of the discussion reads as follows:

Council President Rozell: “Mayor, those five, did we have any other input from citizens that expressed an intrest? Nobody expressed to be on the CIC?”

Mayor Oda: “No.”

Council Member Schilling: “I have a question. Madame mayor did the, um the five that are being reappointed to the board, are they, did they resubmit their application to do that?”

Mayor Oda: “Not a requirement.”

Council Member Schilling: “You don't require that? Okay so they just, you contacted them and they said, yeah we'd like to continue.”

Mayor Oda: “The process is we reach out to them to ask if they are interested in reappointment and if they are then we don't go any further with it.”

Through this small line of questioning, there are some interesting aspects to the appointment process that is worth pointing out.

Citizens Did In Fact Show Interest in the Community Improvement Corporation

The Mayor incorrectly stated that other citizens did not express an intrest in serving in the Board of Directors of the Community Improvement Corporation. The Mayor is simply not correct.

In order to effectively research the post about the Planning Commission made earlier this month, shown above, a public records request was made to the City Council Clerk asking for applications to city boards and commissions that were received through the online form on the city’s website. What was received were four applications from residents that currently do not sit on a board or commission.

Of those applications that were received, two of them showed an interest in not only the Planning Commission, but also serving on the Governing Board of the Community Improvement Corporation. The two applicants included one man who lives on Long Street who applied in June and a woman that lives on Surrey Road who applied in October.

This publication has made anothre public records request of the city to determine if other applications for the Governing Board of the Community Improvement Corporation has been made and will update this particular story once that information is received.

EDIT: The public records request made of the City was filled in a timely fashion and showed that two other inidivduals expressed interest in serving the Community Improvement Corporation; a woman who lives on Branford Road applied in September and a man who lives on Lincoln Avenue applied in January 2023.

A Lifetime Appointment

The Mayor’s exchange with Council Member Schilling also showed that once a member is appointed a city board of commission, they receive preferential treatment to remain on the board or commission for as long as they wish. In other words, the power to appoint individuals isn’t held by the appointing authority, it is effectively held by those being appointed.

There is no discussion about how long as individual has served, no discussion about how that person has performed in the role, no requirement that those individuals that are serving must be reapply. Simply stated, those that are serving on a board or commission stay on for as long as they wish; a true lifetime appointment.

While it is certainly the Mayor’s perogative to do as little research and vetting of individuals as possible for city boards and commissions, it’s hardly the sign of a strong and vibrant organization.

Strong communities tend to welcome new voices to the conversation while phasing older ones out. Establishing firmer procedures on term limits for these roles as well as preventing individuals from serving on multiple boards (unless required by state statute) would serve the community well. Failure to do that creates nothing but another “Old Boys’ Club” and further separates residents form the governments that exist to serve them. Most well-run organizations (especially non-profits) build in term limits as not only a way to get new voices around the table when decisions are being made, but board turnover is also seen as an effective tool to fight against fraud, abuse and mismanagement of an organization’s assets by staff members.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The establishment of an online application system was designed to get more residents interested in serving the community on boards and commissions. And from the short verbal exchange at Tuesday’s meeting it is clear that our community’s Mayor has zero desire to use the system to any real effect. It’s clear that applicants need not apply to be considered and if someone is on a board and wants to continue, they have an open invitation to serve for as long as they wish.

It’s time for the city to be honest with residents. If the online board application system isn’t going to be used, just simply get rid of it.

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