The Board of Supervisors has asked a number of county residents, members of businesses located in the county and/or county staff to serve on appointed bodies that provide advice to the Board on matters of county or other governmental business. Members provide a resident’s, business or county staff perspective on a wide variety of policy issues or programs that the BOS oversees. Their efforts can directly affect the quality of life in Contra Costa County and they provide countless hours in this public service.
Appointees begin their official advisory body involvement through BOS action and serve for a specified term. Each body has an enabling charge and bylaws, which spell out structure, work processes and the expectations of members. Although bodies do not have the authority to hire employees, most bodies have been assigned county or contracted staff to assist the Chair, Vice Chair and the members with conducting the business of each body and providing regular reports, recommendations and advice to the BOS or other units of government. The business of each body is public and governed by all the applicable state and local laws about transparency and availability of the body’s records to the members of the public. Some bodies are required to adopt a conflict of interest code, although the Fair Political Practices Commission asked us in 2014 that we review all bodies with these code requirements to see if they are legally necessary, according to State Law. Bodies are expected to file an annual work plan with the BOS and a list of goals and priorities that will guide their work for that year. They also are asked to submit an annual report that summarizes their accomplishments and activities.
Periodically the BOS evaluates and examines the advisory bodies to determine if any changes are needed in the structure, composition, Board charge, enabling mandate, assignments or the inner workings of the bodies. Some of these reviews have led to changes in bylaws, membership requirements, structure, enabling charges, assignments/duties or sun-setting of the body.
Beginning in 2010 and concluding in 2011/2012, the BOS conducted an extensive review of advisory body policies, makeup and structures and passed Resolution Nos. 2011/497 and 2011/498, which revised and restated the Board’s governing principles for the bodies. The Resolutions dealt with all bodies, whether created by the BOS as discretionary or those that the BOS is mandated to create by state or federal rules, laws or regulations. The Resolutions directed the CAO/COB’s Office to institute a method to conduct a rotating triennial review of each body and to report on the results of that review and any resulting staff recommendations to the BOS, through the IOC, on a regular basis.
The Resolutions laid out the questions and issues on which the Supervisors wanted the report to be based and directed that the information be requested from and submitted by each advisory body once every three years. Board members were particularly interested information concerning whether or not advisory bodies should continue in their existing forms or structures or if their duties, or membership should be changed. They also asked for staff comments on the possibility to sunset committees or to merge bodies together for more efficiencies, greater productivity or better service to the public.
This memo and the attached reporting documents is the first of these triennial reviews. In addition to self-reported information submitted by the bodies that were reviewed, it also contains staff comments or recommendations that came about as a result of the materials that were submitted. The mandatory or discretionary nature of each body is also indicated.
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