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Cooperative Achievement
Elected Officials and Advisory Boards Work Together to Strengthen Their Cities
by Marilyn Crotty |
One of the most common forms of citizen participation is the use of advisory boards. Every local government routinely appoints citizens to serve on these boards – sometimes without fully understanding the value and benefits that can be attained, and the pitfalls that should be avoided.
Why bother with advisory boards? They take time, cost money, and can at times make the work of the city more difficult. On the other hand, advisory boards fill an important role in most communities:
They allow for an in-depth examination of issues.
They serve as a communication channel between elected officials and the community.
They bring a broad range of ideas and expertise to public decision making.
They assist in resolving conflicts.
The provide training for new leaders.
Before determining if the establishment of an advisory board will be beneficial, careful thought should be given to the purpose of the board. Of course, there are statutory provisions, both federal and state, that require the use of advisory boards. However, in many instances, a city has wide discretion in the use of these boards.
Do you need to determine the popularity of an issue? Are you looking for substantive content input on a matter? Will an impartial, open-minded group be able to deal with a controversial or sensitive issue? How about building a constituency for an issue? Or is there a need for a “watchdog” group to oversee something? Would there be value in establishing a committee of critics or a committee of advocates? Each of these questions should be explored as you determine the need for the advisory board. You must be clear on the purpose of the board before you create it. If there are things you do not want an advisory board to do, spell it out in the ordinance establishing the board. Set a timeframe for committees that are convened for a specific purpose. There is nothing like a deadline to keep a group focused on its task.
The next step in assuring the success of an advisory board is appointing the right people to serve on it. Balanced committees that broadly represent your community will assure that a variety of viewpoints are heard. If you have difficulty identifying people in your community who are willing to serve on advisory boards, you might want to set up a “board bank.” This registry of applications from citizens interested in serving on advisory committees should be promoted in every medium the city uses to communicate with its residents. Some jurisdictions actually establish a citizen committee to make recommendations to the elected officials of nominees to serve on boards. It is helpful to develop job descriptions for members of boards so applicants and appointees fully understand their roles and responsibilities prior to accepting appointment.
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Local governments should assign appropriate staff to assist in and support the work of advisory boards. An aggressive board can overtake a weak staff, while too strong a staff can overpower the members of the citizen committee. Staff and boards that achieve a balanced approach to their work tend to be most effective. Sometimes it is appropriate to use an outside facilitator to assist a committee in its work. This is especially important when the issue is controversial or sensitive, and the city must avoid any appearance of bias or control.
It is critical that members of advisory boards are given orientations and training in the specifics of their jobs. This should include information on “sunshine laws,” roles and responsibilities, parliamentary procedure, and content-related topics. Encourage your boards to continue their education by sending them to appropriate conferences or workshops that keep them up to date on changes in the law or alternative approaches to dealing with the issues.
A mechanism for ongoing, two-way communication between an advisory board and the elected body should be established. At a minimum, annually schedule each advisory board on the agenda for a report or review of its activities. Of most importance is that elected officials listen to the advice of its citizen boards. Of course, you may not always follow this advice, but if you constantly ignore it, you will probably face frequent turnover on your boards and skepticism in your community.
Once boards are established and members appointed, elected bodies have an obligation to periodically evaluate their performance. Are they functioning effectively? Are there things that could be changed to increase board effectiveness? Is the board still necessary? You can use a variety of methods to evaluate boards. Ask the boards to complete an annual self-evaluation, and report their findings to the council. You may engage an outside, independent evaluator to review the work of your boards. Or, staff and the elected body may conduct regular evaluations of their advisory boards. These reviews should assess the work of the advisory board as a whole, and also look at the participation of individual members.
And finally, local officials must give meaningful recognition to their advisory boards. Many cities hold annual appreciation events for their advisory boards and/or highlight them in newsletters and on Web sites. Be creative in finding opportunities to give sincere thanks to your board members. Whatever methods you use, make sure they are frequent, public, and acknowledge the hard work of your volunteer citizens.
Advisory boards that serve a real purpose, consist of the right people, and are appropriately staffed, trained, evaluated and recognized, can be a terrific asset to every community.
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Advisory Committee Dos and Don’ts
DO:
1. Clearly define your charge to the committee. (Many committees flounder and fail because of the lack of a clear charge or any specific charge at all.)
2. Give a specific time limit for single-purpose committees and discourage extensions.
3. Select the best possible members for your committees, considering factors such as sex, race, geography, expertise, and any others you deem important for proper balance.
4. Provide staff support if at all possible. In smaller communities and counties, citizen advisory groups sometimes have been successful without assigned staff support, but that pattern seems to be increasingly rare.
5. Define the relationship to the staff. Involve your manager in deciding how to structure the advisory committee, assign its work and staff it. Ask his or her recommendations on what to do about the committee’s advice.
6. Provide orientation and training for new committee members. Unless they’re already specialists, they’ll need help in understanding their assigned subject area, and also will need to understand the relationship of the assigned field to the governmental agency as a whole.
7. Develop a work program for the committee for the term of its work, or have the committee prepare one for its use and yours.
8. Evaluate the work of the committee (or the committee can do this).
9. Maintain good communications with all of your advisory committees. As part of this effort, each committee should send regular reports of its activities to the legislative body. Periodic meetings between the legislators and the individual committees also can be quite helpful.
10. Abolish and thank committees when their work is done.
DON’T:
1. Neglect your advisory committees.
2. Ignore their advice on a regular basis, or good people will decline to serve on the committees.
3. Let the advisory committee capture the staff. In some jurisdictions, by default or evolution, the advisory boards dominate the staffs, thus removing them from the effective control of the central executive (whether that person is elected or appointed).
4. Go overboard in appointing large numbers of committees in the name of responsiveness and citizen participation. Some jurisdictions have established committees on practically every governmental topic one could imagine. The usual result is conflict between committees with overlapping jurisdictions, a lack of staff to give adequate support to the committees, and a tendency for the legislative body to ignore much of the work of the committees since it is simply overwhelmed with the volume of reports coming in.
Marilyn E. Crotty is director of the Florida Institute of Government at the University of Central Florida. For more information, she may be contacted by phone at (407) 317-7745 or via e-mail at mcrotty@mail.ucf.edu.
Reprinted from Quality Cities March/April 2004
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