Residents who wish to serve on one of Islamorada’s eight committees will need majority support from the dais, per a new ordinance supported by the village council.
Previously, each council member selected their preferred person to the committees, one being the Local Planning Agency that considers and recommends issues on planning to the dais. The remaining two members on the LPA are selected at-large via the council’s majority approval.
Now, those wishing to serve on a committee must fill out an application and go through an interview with the council. Candidates would then go before the full council for final approval, which needs three out of five council members voting “yes.”
Council approved the changes, which were originally brought forth by Vice Mayor Sharon Mahoney, at an April 7 special meeting inside the Founders Park Community Center.
Revamping the dais’ committee selections began when Mahoney told her fellow council members in February that she wanted to open the opportunity to more residents. The idea was met with support from several council members, as well as Village Manager Ted Yates, who said the change could bring more qualified residents whom the council may not know.
“We need to reach out to the community as a whole and not just pick our friends and neighbors to desperately fill seats,” Mahoney said.
Opponents to the idea, including those who sit on the Local Planning Agency, said the selection process would be consolidated to a few members on the dais. At a March meeting, the LPA voted 7-0 to recommend the council keep the current procedure. LPA members believed the village needed robust advertising for the open committee seats.
In the end, the council took a different stance from the LPA and elected to change the selection process. The council will evaluate the process in two years.
Committee selections would take place during a council meeting in May of each year. No member can serve more than two consecutive terms, unless there’s a four-fifths vote to approve reappointment for additional consecutive terms.
Under the new ordinance, the mayor will annually appoint a council member to serve as a liaison to better connect the dais and the committee.
Mahoney said she’d like to see the village create a handbook that outlines each committee and its objectives.
