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My name is Liam England, and I’m a member of the Policy Analysis Center. This past week, the Athens-Clarke County (ACC)’s Government Operations Committee met for their monthly meeting on Monday. The Government Operations Committee (GOC) is tasked with making recommendations to the Mayor and Commission (M&C) regarding items related to internal operations and procedures. The committee is chaired by Commissioner Davenport (District 1) and the remaining members are commissioners Melissa Link (District 2), Tiffany Taylor (District 3), Dexter Fisher (District 5), and Mike Hamby (District 10).
The majority of the GOC meeting was spent discussing the procedures for ACC Boards, Authorities, and Commissions (BAC). BACs give citizens a voice in ACC government and allow them to provide input and advise the M&C on specific issues in Athens-Clarke County.
Currently, ACC has 4 “tiers” of BACs. For example, the Classic Center Authority is considered a Tier 1 BAC because it is authorized or created under state law. Tier 2 BACs, such as the Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board, are created by the ACC Commission or by local ordinance. Tier 3 BACs are committees created by the mayor. An example of a Tier 3 BAC is the Safety & Justice Committee. Tier 4 BACs are an umbrella categorization for any other BACs.
GOC’s influence over BACs is mainly limited to Tier 2 BACs because the GOC advises the body responsible for Tier 2 BACs, the Mayor & Commission. A staff presentation identified some key areas of improvement to the procedures under consideration.
Issue 1: BAC Application Process
Several areas of improvement were identified with respect to the application and interview process. Currently, candidates apply on an online form on the ACC website. They select which BAC they want to apply for and answer a few questions. If they want to join multiple BACs, they must fill out the application multiple times. However, some individuals apply for many BAC vacancies regardless of their interest level or expertise—sometimes more than 10 in a short time. The committee agreed with the staff recommendation that applicants should indicate their primary and backup choice, which would reduce workload and encourage applications from people that are passionate in a particular area.
After individuals apply for a vacancy on a Tier 2 BAC, they are interviewed by the M&C in City Hall. Currently, there is only one interview date and all applicants must be interviewed on that date. Commissioner Davenport expressed an interest in making a change to this process and said that it can be difficult for applicants to arrange for transportation to City Hall for their interview. Commissioner Link supported the idea of virtual interviews. Staff explained that only groups of 4 or fewer commissioners would be able to conduct interviews over Zoom. This is because the Georgia Open Meetings Act states that the convening of a quorum of commissioners is a “meeting”, which cannot take place in an all-electronic format in the absence of exceptional circumstances or emergency conditions.
Some commissioners also expressed support for modifying the process so that each BAC submits their own list of desired appointees to the M&C for consideration. Commissioner Link stated that she believes it’s important that M&C remain involved in the vetting of candidates because there are many impactful GOCs. Commissioner Fisher acknowledged that sentiment and stated that if each BAC self-selected their own candidates for reappointment, then the vetting duties are shared between the BAC and the M&C. Commissioner Davenport also noted that the M&C has the ultimate power to reject recommendations of appointees and will always retain some vetting power that way. There was no clear consensus reached on changes to make to the interview process.
Issue 2: BAC Reappointment Process
The GOC also discussed the reappointment process. Currently, the majority of candidates for reappointment— people who want to continue serving on a Tier 2 BAC for another term— must go before the M&C in City Hall. The only exception for this is 3 BACs that submit a list of names directly to the M&C for approval. Members of the GOC expressed a desire to modify the reappointment process to make it more convenient, especially since 90% of applications for reappointment are approved by the M&C. Commissioner Link proposed that the first time a candidate requests reappointment, their BAC may submit their name to the M&C for approval. Thenfurther requests for reappointment can go through the standard process to encourage long-serving candidates to step down and allow other people the opportunity to serve in their position. She indicated support for a term limit of some kind for serving on a BAC. Staff also proposed the idea of a committee which would review reappointment applications for solely those candidates that have not been reappointed previously in a condensed manner compared to the standard process.
Issue 3: BAC Stipends
Another issue that the Government Operations Committee discussed regarding tier 2 BACs includes the matter of stipends. Staff explained that stipends are important because they incentivize participation and recognize the service of community members. They also help members with additional costs they may incur traveling to their meetings such as gas and babysitting. However, there is no requirement for people serving on a tier 2 BAC to receive stipends. Therefore, staff recommended that ACC implement a BAC stipend policy, with stipends being restricted to regularly scheduled monthly meetings. Commissioner Link strongly supports stipends and notes that they are especially important for committees where diversity of membership is valued, such as the Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board.
However, Link stated she didn’t think stipends were as necessary for the more popular bodies such as the Planning Commission because broad representation of opinion isn’t crucial to their success. In response, staff advised that there may be legal issues if stipends were awarded only to some BACs and not others. Commissioner Taylor expressed concern about the budgetary impact of implementing stipends for all tier 2 BACs and wanted to know if it was an option to compensate solely the members of a BAC making up the quorum in each meeting. It was estimated that implementing stipends for all tier 2 BACs could cost up to $79,500/year, if a $25 stipend was paid to each member per regular (1 per month) meeting.
The Government Operations Committee discussed several changes to Tier 2 BACs, but nothing was voted on or finalized. As the committee ran out of time and staff did not finish their presentation, the matter will be discussed further at the next meeting. It is clear, however, that this is an area where the GOC is clearly interested in making improvements.
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