4. RESOLVE that Board Members as named are APPOINTED to serve on Board committees, special county committees and regional boards/ committees/ commissions as specified on Attachment A to Resolution No. 2016/79 as Internal Standing Committees (Type I), Other Internal Committees, (Type II), Regional Bodies (Type III), Special/Restricted Seats (Type IV), and Ad Hoc Committees (Type V).
Board Standing Committees. At its annual reorganization meeting on January 5, 2016, the Board of Supervisors created Alternate seats for each of the Board's standing committees and stipulated that the alternate designated for each committee will serve only in the event of a long-term absence, as determined by the Board Chair, of a regular committee member.
At its January 26, 2016 retreat, the Board discussed the suggestion of using Alternates more extensively, to address any (not only an extended) absence of a regular committee member. After further consideration, the Board reached consensus that Alternate appointees might, in practice, create conflicts with the open meeting provisions of the Brown Act and Better Government Ordinance because more than three members of the Board of Supervisors may become involved in deliberations during committee discussions. Committee study of matters referred by the Board sometimes extends to multiple committee meetings during the course of the year. In such cases, the potential for serial meetings of the Board of Supervisors exists, since three board members could be involved in committee discussions. All matters within the purview of a Board standing committee are potentially within the purview of the Board of Supervisors, which refers matters to the committees for study. Concern was also expressed about the amount of time that Alternate appointees would need to reserve on their calendars to ensure their availability to substitute for a regular committee member, and how that time commitment might detract from other activities.
The Board considered the idea of publicly noticing certain standing committee meetings as Board of Supervisors meetings in observance of the Brown Act and Better Government Ordinance, but ultimately decided that it would be more practical to reschedule or cancel committee meetings or, as a last resort, proceed with a "quorum of one" in those instances when both members cannot be in attendance at the standing meeting time.
Also during the January 26 retreat, Supervisors Piepho and Mitchoff expressed concern about how their representation of the County on the Delta Counties Coalition and other various water-related commissions might create challenges in compliance with the open meeting provisions of the Brown Act and Better Government Ordinance, with respect to their recent appointment to the Board's Transportation, Water & Infrastructure Committee (TWIC), which deliberates on many of the same issues as the regional water-related commissions. To avoid the potential for conflict with open meeting requirements, I am recommending that the Board appoint me to replace Supervisor Mitchoff as Vice Chair to the TWIC.
ABAG Finance Authority for Nonprofit Corporations (FAN). Contra Costa County is a member of the ABAG FAN, a joint powers authority. The FAN is governed by a Board of Directors and an Executive Committee. Contra Costa County is entitled to appoint an elected official of the County as a Director of the FAN Board and two alternates who may vote in the Director's absence. I am recommending the appointment of Supervisor Karen Mitchoff to the ABAG FAN Board, and Treasurer-Tax Collector Russell Watts and Asst. Treasurer Belinda Zhu and her first and second alternates, respectively.
It the recommendations are not approved, the Alternate appointees to the Board's standing committees will remain as adopted on January 5, 2016, the County will not be represented on the ABAG Finance Authority for Nonprofit Corporations, and a potential conflict with open meeting requirements will exist for members of the TWIC.