PROPOSAL

Subject: A New Selection Process for the City's Most Important Boards and
Commissions
By Maurice Cox, City Council Member
January 17, 2000

Some may recall the encouraging recent experience within our community in May 1998, when a new and open procedure was used in the selection of our area's circuit court judge. For the first time, the selection process for appointing a judge was open to the public and the process made transparent. I believe our most visible city appointments are no less important, and perhaps we can learn some valuable lessons from that successful public interview process. In the psirit of open government which offers full PUBLIC discussion when City Council holds interviews for appointments to boards and commissions, i propose the following innovations in our procedure:

1) City Council will request that candidates respond to a series of related questions in writing. Candidate's responses will be posted on the City's website and in City Hall for public comment and consideration by council during their deliberations.

2) the general public and invited representatives of local groups (for example, neighborhood associations, the NAACP, the Chamber of Commerce, and other interested, and effected parties) will be invited to attend a series of public interviews for appointees.

3) The setting for these interviews will be informal (conference
room setting) so as to encourage a relaxed environment for the candidates.
Council piloted this open format in 1997 when we opened the doors to the
public in our morning discussion meetings on reversion.

4) Following the public interviews, councilors will, of course, meet in closed session to discuss and make the final decisions. Council will have had the benefit of immediate, relevant citizen input and, thus, can better respect the public interest.

5) This proposal for such innovation in the City's procedure fulfills Council's own objectives to create more opportunity for public education and transparency in appointments to important city boards.

Council could introduce this new procedure as a pilot project when it interviews the candidates who have applied for appointment to the Board of Architectural Review (BAR). Afterwards, we would evaluate its effectiveness for possible application to other City boards. This plan could become a model for making appointments to others boards and commissions such as the School Board, the Planning Commission and Housing Authority Board and others.