(A) Members. All members shall be appointed by the Mayor with the approval of the City Council. All members shall serve without compensation, but may be reimbursed for certain expenses if the expense is approved in advance by the City Manager. Original appointments may be for shorter periods of time to fill a vacancy. All members, unless otherwise noted shall be at least 18 years old and residents of the city.
(B) Terms and term limits.
(1) Terms shall begin as follows:
Term Beginning |
Term Beginning | |
Airport Commission | October 1 |
Board of Adjustment and Appeals | October 1 |
Civil Service Commission | April 1 |
Construction Board of Appeals | October 1 |
Historic Preservation Commission | January 1 |
Library Trustees | July 1 |
Parks Board | April 1 |
Planning and Zoning Commission | April 1 |
(2) Terms shall be staggered to ensure continued experience on boards and commissions.
(C) Board or commission. The words “board” or “commission” are considered to be interchangeable for the purpose and intent of this title.
(D) Alternate member.
(1) In addition to regular members, the City Council may appoint one alternate member to each city board or commission, with the exception of the Library Board, now in existence or hereafter established.
(2) The alternate member shall, like regular members, attend the regular meetings and special meetings of the commission to which he or she is appointed. The alternate member shall review staff reports and documents and otherwise prepare for such meetings. At such meetings, the alternate member shall be identified for the record. That alternate member shall publicly announce any items on the agenda that he or she is disqualified from participating in because of a conflict of interest. If, as a result of absences, there is not a quorum at a regular or special meeting, the alternate member shall move to any vacant seat and shall participate as a regular member until the completion of the agenda. If the alternate member participates due to a conflict of interest of a regular member, the alternate member shall participate as a regular member only until the affected item is completed. In the event an absent member arrives after the commencement of an agenda item, the alternate member shall participate as a regular member until the completion of the current item, at which time the alternate member shall move back to the alternate member’s seat and shall stop participating as a regular member. In the event an item on which the alternate member has participated as a regular member is continued to a subsequent meeting, the alternate member shall continue to participate as a regular member on the item at any and all such subsequent meetings.
(3) The qualifications, appointment, term of office, attendance, removal and other requirements applicable to the alternate shall be the same as those for regular members of a commission.
(E) Appointment to fill vacancies. The alternate to a commission, if willing to accept the position, shall automatically fill a vacancy of a position on the commission when said vacancy is created by the resignation, removal or expiration of the term of office of a commission member without further recruitment, application, nomination or Council action unless such action would be in violation of gender equity requirements or the vacancy has special restrictions regarding members (Historic Preservation, Tourism Commission). All vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as appointments.
(F) Attendance. If any member fails to attend three out of five previous regular meetings or three consecutive regular meetings they shall be considered removed from the commission unless the commission has voted to excuse the absences by an affirmative, recorded, majority vote. The appointment of any removed member, whose absences are not excused, may only be extended or renewed by action of the Mayor with approval of the City Council.
(G) Council and staff liaison. The Mayor may designate a Council member to serve as a liaison to any commission. The liaison shall serve in such capacity at the pleasure of the Council. The City Manager may also designate a staff member to assist as time, staffing and work load allow.
(H) Officers. Each commission shall select a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson from the eligible members of their respective commission during a regularly scheduled meeting.
(I) Removals. All members serve at the pleasure of the Council and may be removed by a three-fifths’ vote of the full Council.
(J) Quorum. A quorum shall consist of a majority of members serving at such time as any meeting is scheduled or called. Vacant positions must be included when calculating the number of members that must be present for a quorum.
(K) Gender balance. The intent of this paragraph is to help attain and assure gender balance on all appointed by the City Council and to be in conformance with Iowa Code § 69.16A(2) regarding such appointments. It is the policy of the city to not discriminate against any citizen or applicant to a commission due to the sex of such citizen or applicant. Upon considering a person’s interests, education, life experiences and willingness to serve, all things being equal, preference for appointments to individual commissions shall be made to balance such commission on the basis of equal numbers of male and female appointees.
(Ord. D-047, passed 11-21-2017; Ord. D-065, passed 8-4-2020
; Ord. D-100, passed 7-5-2023)