Committee Seats and the Art of Running for Office

Every city needs advisory, policy-making and oversight committees/boards. They help to inform the public, keep government transparent, and make invaluable suggestions in public relations and good business practices.

This is usually a voluntary position nominated by other board members or members of City Council (or Mass Transit Board, etc). A non-paid position, usually. The volunteers are basically concerned citizens with a stake in their city/district.

Some use boards as a stepping-stone to publicly-elected offices. Nothing inherently wrong with that- it's good to learn the ins-n-outs of city departments. BUT BUTT BUTTTT- I do have a problem when that seat is then vacated when such publicly-elected position is not attained- IF YOU DIDN'T WIN! You could have just "sat in" at the publicly held meetings- you didn't need to be a voting member that was just using the committee to pad a resume!

I also have a problem with someone holding that position as a voting board member and then bringing nothing to the agenda. For the whole time they were on the board. Then dropping the board when it was of no further interest or use to them. My bad, Alfrank Catucci DID bring stuff up on the Citizen's Advisory Committee to the Mass Transit Board/Sun Metro. He wanted to change the date/time of the meeting to better coincide with his father/daughter duties. I can't say anything bad about that, especially it being Father's Day! But I'm talking about business-at-hand. He was happy to be a "sitting member" in every sense of the phrase. For being such an entrepeneur I expected more creative thinking/problem solving from him. From what I understand, some boards may require that you step down when officially running for a public office. Walt Phillips, our friend of the NE, is on that same board and I didn't see him step down so I don't believe it was a requirement.

Every board member is different. Some are concerned citizens and DO have a stake in the board but don't bring much up to discuss or take action on. They are happy to vote on whatever the city department or other board members bring up. Fine. That's the minimum required of them and it still serves a purpose.

Me, I guess I'm different. I like to do my best in whatever I do. When I see a wrong I try and make it right. When I see obvious problems I try and give not-so-obvious suggestions- think outside of the box. I am on the same board as Walt is and Alfrank was. I started attending the open meetings around the time of the Meltdown of 2006. Besides being in the health care field and obviously having interest in people's physical and mental well-being- I became extremely interested and had a fire lit under my backside when I met Ernesto Dominguez, also a member and past chair. Ernesto was MADE for this board, at times I am amazed at his energy in his pursuit on transportation issues, let alone in keeping Sun Metro transparent (or as transparent as possible!) and with disability access issues. He is a great example of a citizen stakeholder with honest interest in his voting status on a board. He takes it seriously and puts in the time.

Some people just use boards and take a slot that other concerned citizens could use to really make a difference. Instead, truly interested board members have to work harder to make a difference and when you add that to all the usual sop government red tape involved it makes for an uphill climb at best.

I also have a beef with some City Council members who take up valuable time in their selection of board members. I understand they want a good representation in whomever they choose, but it shouldn't take 2 months or more to make that decision. Especially now, when the budget hearings are starting and alot of committees' other projects are put on hold for a month or two to accomodate and wade through the whole process. We need every interested body nominated and seated at this time to make sure we have a quorom. But more on this issue later....