Council talks updating rules on appointments

A volunteer’s resignation from the North Wales Planning Commission has spurred a discussion on how the town should address vacant positions in the future.

Council voted unanimously Tuesday to accept the resignation of Hesketh “Alec” Jacques from the Planning Commission, and that action led to a lengthy discussion on whether the appointments process should be changed.

“I think it was a good suggestion that we come up with a procedure, since we don’t currently have one, of how we advertise them and how we go forward with appointments,” said Councilman Jim Sando.

Borough Manager Christine Hart said typically the first step in filling a vacancy is to have council formally accept the resignation of the outgoing member, which it voted to do unanimously for Jacques Tuesday night. Once that’s complete, staff will update the “Board and Commissions” tab on the borough website to add the next vacancy. Staff will also post vacancies on the borough’s Facebook page and on the freestanding message board on Walnut Street, according to the manager.

Most volunteer positions have terms that expire at the end of the calendar year, Hart said, so in November or December borough staff typically contact those whose terms are nearly up, ask them to send letters of interest if they want to come back for another turn, and post those positions publicly asking for applications by early January.

But when a position becomes vacant during the year? Nominations can be made during a council meeting, under a set of rules councilman Sal Amato said he’d like to see revised, and has started discussing with other council members.

“The current process is that the first one that yells out a name, is the one who gets voted on. If that person wins, then that’s it,” Amato said.

Under a new set of rules based on Robert’s Rules of Order, Amato said, all of the interested applicants would be considered, and votes would be taken on each one, allowing all candidates a chance instead of just the first.

“None of this has been discussed with council yet, but it is proposing a fair process for nominations,” he said.

Amato said he would send his proposal for revised rules to Hart, to be discussed at future meetings. In the meantime, Hart said, one resident has expressed interest in the vacant planning commission seat, and council asked to consider nominations at their first meeting in July to allow time for more interested residents to apply.

Councilman Jim Cherry raised another question about the appointment process — what if a member of a board leaves the area but doesn’t formally resign?

“A year or so ago, we had a similar situation, where another member moved out of the borough, and it took them almost eight months to send in a letter of resignation,” he said.

In that time period, several other residents had expressed interest in filling that vacant spot, but by the time the resignation as accepted, “those people said ‘Forget it,’” Cherry said.

When staff learn that a member on a board has moved out of town, Hart said, staff will contact them to ask for a formal resignation, but if staff are unaware that the resident has left, that can lead to delays.

“When you have somebody like that, after a certain period of time, is there a way we can have a resignation by default?” said councilman Mark Tarlecki.

Sando suggested any new draft come with a requirement that members on various boards attend a certain number or percentage of meetings per year, and that current members be notified what that requirement is.

“If they show up at one meeting a year, they’re not really doing what they were appointed to do,” he said.

Hart said she and staff would examine state bylaws that govern the local committees and board the borough is allowed to establish, and develop a draft for council to consider at future meetings.

“How about I put something together, between what you have and what we come up with from the borough code, and see what we can hammer out?” she said.

Borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on June 27 at the borough municipal building, 300 School St. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.NorthWalesBorough.org.