(A) The position of Chair and Vice Chair shall rotate at the commission meeting that follows the following the annual rotation of Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem by the City Council. A Chairperson and a Vice Chairperson shall serve for one year.
(B) A rotation progression of the Chair and the Vice Chair position among commissioners shall be established based upon seniority of appointment, as that term is defined in § 32.05(C), to the commission. Notwithstanding the definition of seniority of appointment, for newly appointed commissioners, the order of seniority among those newly appointed commissioners shall be established according to their nominating Council members’ Council District number from lowest to highest. If a commissioner declines to serve as Chairperson, such commissioner shall wait until the other commissioners currently serving at such time are eligible for Chairperson before assuming the Chair, regardless of seniority of appointment. A Commissioner, however, shall not serve as Chairperson or Vice Chairperson until after a full rotation of Chairperson and Vice Chairperson has occurred and in the case of Chairperson, a Commissioner must have previously served as Vice Chairperson.
(C) As used in this section,
SENIORITY OF APPOINTMENT is defined as the length of the commissioner's tenure which begins from the date of their appointment by the City Council as set forth in § 32.03 of the Code regardless of which Council member nominated such commissioner. In the case of an incumbent commissioner that has been held over as described in § 32.03(E), the date of their appointment shall be when that incumbent commission was first appointed. In the event two or more commissioners have equal seniority, the affected commissioners are encouraged to work collaboratively to choose amongst themselves the order of seniority.
(D) If the commissioners with equal seniority are unable to determine the order of seniority, the decision regarding seniority shall be determined by lot (i.e., the drawing of straws) in the manner conducted by city staff ("staff") as follows: (1) Staff will gather a number of straws and will ensure that the straws are of varying lengths; (2) The number of straws to be gathered by the staff will equal the number of commissioners that have equal seniority; (3) Staff will then grab all the straws in his or her fist, such that all of them appear to be the same length and offer the clenched fist to the commissioners with equal seniority; (4) Each commissioner with equal seniority shall draw a straw from the fist of staff. The straw the commissioner touches is the straw the commissioner chooses; (5) Once all the straws are chosen, staff will compare the length of the straws and the person with the shortest straw will have the most seniority, followed by the next shortest straw and so forth. This process shall not be used for those commissioners that are newly appointed (i.e., commissioners that have never served on that commission).
(Ord. 1750, passed 4-15-20)