Item 5B- BMRC ReportMINUTES
City of Atlantic Beach
Board Member Review Committee Meeting
Board and Committee Member Quality Assurance
January 19, 2017
THOSE IN ATTENDANCE:
John Stinson Chair of the Board Member Review Committee
Jennifer Lada-Member of the Board Review Committee
Ray Brandstaetter-Chair of the General Employees' Pension Board of Trustees
Grant Healy-Chair of the Cultural Arts and Recreation Advisory Committee.
Ben de Luna-Chair of the Code Enforcement Board
Brea Paul-Chair of the Community Development Board
Staff:
Donna Bartle-City Clerk & Non-Voting Member of the Board Member Review Committee
Victor Gualillo-Chair of the Police Officers' Pension Board of Trustees
Timothy Johnson-Staff Liaison to the Cultural Arts and Recreation Board Committee.
Derek Reeves -Staff Liaison to the Community Development Board
Debbie White -Code Enforcement Officer.
Dayna Williams -Secretary for the Code Enforcement Board.
ABSENT:
Solomon Brotman-Member of the Board Member Review Committee
Mike Paschall-Member of the Board Member Review Committee
Call to Order:
Commissioner Stinson called the meeting to order at 6:03pm thanked everyone for coming and
explained the purpose of the meeting was to discuss ways to improve the process of recruitment,
training, and retention of board and committee members serving the City of Atlantic Beach.
Courtesy of the Floor
Commissioner Stinson opened Courtesy of the Floor.
Chris Jorgensen, 92 West 3rd St., thanked Commissioner Stinson for having this meeting.
Historical Processes
Commissioner Stinson explained the history of the recruiting process and the challenges with it.
Minutes of the Board Member Review Committee on January 19, 2017 Page 1 of4
Agenda Item 5B
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Commissioner Stinson opened the floor for comments. The following topics were discussed and
recommendations were made:
• Recruitment
1) Identify the qualifications and requirements necessary for someone to serve as a
member on a particular board/committee.
2) Set interview dates in advance, interview for perhaps four weeks in a row. Ensure that
reappointment candidates interview prior to reappointment along with any other
prospective candidates.
3) Restructure expiration terms so that all openings are appointed for January 1 of every
year, but maintain the alternation of expiration to ensure retention of knowledge,
experience and leadership of each board and committee.
4) Chairs of the various boards and committees requested that the expiration terms of their
board or committee members be made known to them.
a) Knowledge ofthis information would allow the Chair to comment on the upcoming
vacancies during regularly scheduled meetings.
b) This would allow the individual boards and committees to recruit at regular
meetings.
5) To be cautious about requirements and expectations of prospective members because
those requirements and expectations could limit the pool of interested applicants.
6) That the City create a campaign drive and marketing materials, scheduled for perhaps
Q3 annually to highlight recruitment.
a) Host workshops for candidates to meet current members of boards or committees.
b) Regular use of the City website and social media to recruit.
c) Include in closing comments at regularly scheduled Commission meetings or other
City functions such as Arts in the Park, Acoustic Nights, Songwriters, etc.
d) Post openings on the marquee in front of the Commission Chamber.
e) Include a message in each monthly newsletter.
• Training
1) Annual Sunshine Law training.
2) Pension training.
3) Voting conflicts and how to manage them.
4) Ex Parte communications: How to recognize them and when to disclose them.
5) Code Enforcement Conference.
6) Acceptance of gifts
7) Member orientation program.
Minutes of the Board Member Review Committee on January 19, 2017 Page 2 of4
Agenda Item 5B
March 27, 2017
• Mentoring Program
1) Suggestions were made to have previous board members mentor incoming members
once they step down from the board. No specific recommendations were made to be
considered. The concept of mentoring seemed to have merit to most attendees and
needed further consideration.
• Evaluation
1) Video tape, live-stream and post all board and committee meetings online similar to
Commission meetings.
2) Ranking of interviewees at the time interviews are conducted that differentiates each
candidate.
3) Have each board or committee make an annual presentation to the Commission about
the performance of the board/committee.
• Retention
1) Member recognition with plaques or certificates at regularly scheduled
Commission meetings.
2) Move the Cultural Arts and Recreation Advisory Committee meetings to the
Commission Chamber.
3) Expand and normalize the use of alternates for all boards and committees.
Significant comments were made about the need to possibly restructure the Cultural Arts
and Recreation Advisory Committee due to lack of participation and the Committee's
difficulties meeting its quorum requirements.
• Charges
1) All board chairs and liaisons were charged with meeting with members to bring
back recommendations to the group that would meet an overarching goal to
address recruitment, training, mentoring, evaluation and retention that would
present some consistency to residents but that also address specific needs and
demands of each board/committee.
Chris Jorgensen, 92 West 3rd St., spoke about the importance of public announcements of
opportunities to serve the City and requested the City consider social gatherings for board and
committee members be held semi-annually.
Closing
The next probable meeting date and time was discussed and the group agreed it would be
best to wait until late March 2017 to allow time for each board/committee to meet and
Minutes of the Board Member Review Committee on January 19, 2017 Page 3 of4
Agenda Item 5B
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obtain feedback to present to the group. The Tentative date would be the week of March
27th.
Adjournment
There being no further discussion, Commissioner Stinson declared the meeting adjourned at 8:00
p.m.
Chairman
Minutes of the Board Member Review Committee on January 19, 2017 Page 4 of4
Agenda Item 5B
March 27, 2017
City of Atlantic Beach
Board Member Review Committee
Synopsis of Suggestions from the meeting of the tst of March 2017
ATTENDANCE:
Board Member Solomon Brotman
Board Member Jennifer Lada
Commissioner John Stinson
RESIDENTS IN ATTENDANCE:
Ms. Judy Workman
Mr. Chris Jorgensen
1) Purpose of the Meeting
City Clerk Donna Bartle
City Clerk Aide Joanie Bowman
a) The meeting was called to order at 6:00pm.
b) Approve the minutes of the Committee meeting of the 17th of November 2016
and of the 19th ofJanuary 2017.
c) Discuss the concepts discussed and proposed by the Board chairs and
liaisons to improve recruitment and retention of new Board members.
2) Courtesy of the Floor
a) Mr. Chris Jorgensen expressed concerns about multiple Boards and
Committees meeting on the same date and time, thus preventing citizens
from attending most if not all Board or Committee meetings or other City
gatherings.
b) Ms. Judy Workman asked "what does the BMRC do?' She expressed concern
that not enough oversight was provided to other Boards by the BMRC.
3) Board Discussion
a) Recruitment of members
i) Utilizing prepared "marketing materials", recruit citizens who had prior
leadership experience and by hosting a booth at social events held within
the City, including Art Walk, Farmer's Markets, Cultural Arts & Recreation
Advisory Committee events or other gatherings within the City.
ii) Ensure that upon appointment, new members understand the
expectation they should immediately begin to evaluate and consider
residents to nominate as their replacements at the time of their exit from
service to the BMRC.
iii) Standardization of all Boards and Committees in how they function and
operate would increase the pool of potential applicants for the BMRC.
iv) Encourage BMRC members to attend City Commission meetings and
other Board or Committee meetings, request City Commission members
attend at least one meeting of every Board annually, and share agendas
and minutes of every Board or Committee meeting with the City
Commission.
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March 27, 2017
b) Training
i) Include requirements and expectations for membership to the BMRC
when interviewing prospective candidates.
(1) Requirements and expectations might include;
(a) Sunshine Law training completed within a certain time frame
annually;
(b) Ethics training completed within a certain time frame annually;
(c) Roberts Rules of Order training;
(d) Financial disclosure form submission and explanation;
(e) Mandatory attendance, with limits on the number of meetings
missed annually;
(f) Make required training available to applicants prior to
interviewing the applicant for an open position.
c) Mento ring
i) Ensure prospective candidates understand and accept that they would be
expected to mentor new members for a period of up to one year, as they
are exiting service to the BMRC.
(1) Utilizing BMRC members who have termed out to mentor new
members eliminates any Sunshine Law violation concerns;
(2) And, utilizing these outgoing members takes advantage of their
experience on the BMRC as well as their professional experiences and
education.
ii) Inquire with the City Attorney about City Commission members talking to
other Board and Committee members and how the Sunshine Law views
such interaction.
iii) Inquire with the City Attorney about the <:;ARAC members meeting or
communicating about logistics for Committee approved events.
d) Evaluation
i) Annual or perhaps semi-annual reports made by the BMRC (and other
Boards and Committees) representatives to the City Commission
detailing challenges, successes and other accomplishments.
ii) Contact the Non-Profit Resource Center of NE Florida about assisting with
a 360° performance evaluation using information such as attendance,
training completion, etc. that avoids any personal assessments but
focuses on metrics that are part of the public domain.
iii) City Commission member attendance at least annually to at least one of
each Board or Committee meeting is believed to encourage a higher
standard of performance by Board and Committee members.
e) Retention
i) Use of alternates for the BMRC was discussed.
ii) A recommendation to split the CARAC into an Arts Board and a separate
Recreation Board was discussed.
f) Closing Comments
i) A question regarding the revision of standards creating and governing
City Boards and Committees was raised during the closing comments. The
BMRC members in attendance believe it would be in the best interest of
Agenda Item 5B
March 27, 2017
the City, both financially and in the essence of time, for the BMRC working
closely with the Chairs of each Board and Committee, as well as with the
respective liaisons, to host two to three working sessions to compare,
revise and draft new language that would standardize and normalize
these groups more similarly. After such drafts were complete, these
documents could be submitted to the City Attorney for review and further
revision and then presented to the City Commission for approval and
adoption.
ii) The final request discussed during closing comments was the utilization
of City (COAB.us) email addresses for each Board and Committee
member. Such use would ensure archival of communications and
essentially eliminate the need for FOIA requests to be completed by those
outside the City framework.
4) Adjournment
a) The meeting was adjourned at 7:30pm after allowing the public to have final
courtesy of the floor.
Agenda Item 5B
March 27, 2017