15 - Procedure for appointing council officers and board appointmentsItem No. j_5
COUNCIL MEMBER AGENDA ITEM REQUEST
Please complete this form to have an item placed on the agenda for the Council's consideration.
The deadline for requesting an. item on an agenda will be the Wednesday before the council
meeting takes place. This time is necessary so that staff can research the matter and
prepare/review an ordinance, resolution, or other document such as a contract. In order for your
fellow Council Members to l'ully understand your item, have productive discussion, ensure
efflCient Council meetings, and for staff to be able to assist you as completely as possible, it is
important that you describe the item with as much detail as possible and include any supporting
documentation so that it may be included in the Council's meeting packets. Please return this
completed forin to the City Manager's office or the City Clerk's office.
Council member making request:
1:1 Renae Stone
F-1 Derrick Hughes
❑ Billy Trenado
Steve Clifford
Linda Knox
Clayton Pilgrim
F] Paula Portugal
Description of Item: Call to action: Enact procedure f -or nominating candidates for City of Paris, such as
Mayor, Committee members and any other council appointed individuals. Also, due to timeliness of
preparing these changes in our charter, we need to clarify to the citizens of Paris how we will elect
Boards and Commissions for the 2018 year.
Are additional sheets or supporting materials attached? [_1 Yes E No
I request that this item be placed on the agenda for the:
Fx] City Council meeting on this date: -lune 11, 2018
F-1 Sometime in the next 2 meetings
E] No specific time in mind —Just keep it on a list of pending issues
Signature: Clayton Pilgrim
Date: June 6, 2018
City of Paris Revised 05/08/2018
I in�tially prepared this for the city council in 2014, and thought it might be helpful again, JG
Board appointments can bevoted ooinvarious ways each with some p|us,esand minuses, There ismo
specific right orwrong methodology. Three | have seen and participated in(with some variations) are:
1. As many nominations ascouncil members want to make are placed (no seconds are needed,
since this is not aformal motion). Once nominations cease, avote is called. if there are multiple
vacancies, each council member is given the number of votes, equal to the number of vacancies.
(For example, four people are nominated for two vacancies; each coumoi[ mmemnbe/ votes for two
people; whoever gets the first and second most votes is appointed.) The advantage is that lots
of people can get nominated (which makes 1benn feel less ignored even if they lose), and you
can gothnaugh lots ofboards pretty fast. The downside is that |tcan get confusing, it is hard to
make sure everyone votes the correct number of times, and someone can get chosen without a
majority ofthe council voting for them.
Z. Nominations are made and seconded to be placed into consideration. The council then votes
among those who were nominated. The council may or may not require a majority vote to be
appointed. If this option is used, run-offs may be necessary. The advantage is that if a person
cannot even get a second, he/she certainly is not going to get edected, so why waste time voting
on him/her? It also goes fairly quickly, though run-offs can get confusing and slow things down
|fthey are used:.
3. An individual nomination is made and seconded. This is treated like any other motion, mo
everyone votes on that motion (persam). This continues until every slot is filled. This allows
persons to be considered individually, but that means it can be YM slow if you are filling lots of
slots, and if council members are not paying attention, they might run out of slots before getting
to a name on the list they actually like. That also means getting nominated early increases the
chance ufbeing elected, which might not be fair. Also, when voting omeach person individually,
voting "no" can hmNL a volunteer's feelings more than if he/she simply lost to another
candidate(s) (i.e, voting for Joe instead of Susan in often more palatable than voting Yes on ]pe
and Nonn5unam).
Other methods used include rankings (usually following interviews), nominations by the mayor or staff
(used by very large aind very small municipalities), appointing one member per council member (good
for a charter commission or OP committee, but not recommended for standing boards), using a
nominating committee (good for large organizations orchwrchex),etc.