City to provide training for members of advisory bodies
Topics could include Brown Act compliance, small-group decision making, among others
–At Tuesday night’s Paso Robles City Council meeting, the council voted unanimously to begin to provide in-house skill-building and information sharing for members of the city’s advisory bodies.
The city has eight standing and ad hoc advisory boards, committees, and commissions with a regular meeting schedule, and four that meet as needed. These commissions and committees advise the council and, in certain cases, are delegated some decision-making responsibilities.
Those eight bodies are:
- Airport Advisory Committee
- Travel Paso Robles Alliance Hotelier BID
- Library Board of Trustees
- Parks and Recreation
- Tourism Collaboration Committee
- Senior Advisory Board
- Youth Commission
- Sales Tax Oversight Committee
For most members, serving on a city advisory body requires new knowledge and enhanced skills; most members, for example, have not needed to understand the Brown Act prior to their appointment.
The League of California Cities holds a New Mayors and Council Members Academy each year. Some of the sessions at the academy address materials that would be helpful to members of city advisory bodies, including the basics of municipal governance, the relationship between city legislative bodies and staff, what commissioners need to know about city finances and maintaining the public’s trust. Planning commissioners have an opportunity to attend an intensive planning commissioners academy, developed and presented by the League of California Cities. The curriculum includes, among land use topics, such general topics as engaging the public and conducting effective and respectful meetings.
Members of the city’s other advisory boards, committees, and commissions do not have a similar academy. The city will now provide in-house skill-building and information sharing for their benefit. Appropriate topics could include those generic matters addressed at the league’s academy, as well as such topics as the Brown Act and small-group decision making, among others. Topics to be addressed can be developed by staff in collaboration with the chairs and members of the city’s advisory bodies.
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