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It’s simply my opinion…
On Tuesday night time, the Metropolis Council goes to debate issuing enterprise playing cards to Board and Fee members. Whereas this may increasingly turn into a slippery slope, the intentions are good, and hopefully, the Board and Fee members might be answerable for how they use them.
Since they’re speaking concerning the boards and commissions, this may be a very good time to fully revamp a few of the expectations together with some modernization to make the boards and commissions extra responsive and accountable to the general public.
There was a time after I thought many boards and commissions didn’t pull their weight, and the extra I’ve watched a few of these boards and commissions, they’re really very helpful and take their duties very severely.
For instance, let’s take the Sustainable Burbank Fee. This Fee has handled the artificial turf that Parks and Recreation wish to set up on the Brace Park ballfields, and Monday, they had been going to vote on sending a letter to the Council in favor of banning single-use plastics. How did that vote go? We’ll discover out subsequent month, which we are going to get into in a minute.
In some ways, the general public doesn’t know what a few of these Boards and Commissions are answerable for and resolve. My suggestion to the council is to have every Board and Fee do a year-end report annually with all of the objects that they made choices on and despatched to the council as suggestions for motion.
Not the reviews which can be made to the Boards and Commissions however the precise actions that they’ve taken. Since they’re all advisory to the council, a yearly report must be made which exhibits their exercise. If it seems that after a yr glided by and so they made little or no in suggestions to the Council, then do they should exist?
However there may be additionally one thing else sticking in my craw.
This previous week I referred to as (Zoomed) the constitution assessment committee throughout all communications. When my Zoom name was over, my interplay with the assembly was additionally over. There was no means for me to look at the assembly or know what was mentioned. The one means I can discover out what occurred is to attend a month or two till the subsequent time they meet, await the agenda, after which learn the minutes.
This has been my identical frustration with the Sustainable Burbank Fee. There isn’t a approach to discover out what was mentioned or voted on.
A few of these conferences are very topical and related to right now’s discussions.
Burbank calls itself the media capital of the world, and but on the subject of the Boards and Commissions, some are nonetheless dwelling within the days of the horse specific. Having to attend a month to seek out out what occurred at a gathering will not be acceptable at the present time. All conferences must be recorded, even when that simply means placing a digital camera behind the room with a microphone on the desk.
By not less than placing that up the day after the assembly, folks can not less than discover out what really occurred. Minutes are tremendous, however they don’t seem to be actual, and they don’t replicate the tone of what’s mentioned.
If we’re going to ask residents to become involved and take their time to assist in metropolis choices, then their conferences add outcomes must be made obtainable to the general public on a a lot faster foundation. The system they used within the final century doesn’t work on this century.
Making the conferences extra accessible and making the boards and commissions extra accountable with a yearly report of their exercise can’t do something however improve their work.
So sure, allow them to have their enterprise playing cards, but additionally give the general public transparency on the subject of what is definitely being achieved. A few of these boards and commissions shouldn’t function in obscurity.
We’re doing them and ourselves an incredible disservice.
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