If you were to attend a meeting of the Coronado Cays Homeowners’ Association, an officially appointed representative from the City Council will be there.
Across town, at a Coronado Shores HOA meeting, there would be no appointed representative.
Meanwhile, Coronado MainStreet, an economic development community group, has a council member appointed to its board. The Coronado International Film Festival, however, does not. Both apply for community grant funding each year, which the City Council ultimately allocates.
It’s confusing, and some council members say, potentially unfair.
City leaders will rethink, revise, and importantly, write down its policies on these council member appointed positions. It will also clarify the scope and role of the city’s 12 resident-volunteer advisory boards.
City Manager Tina Friend brought the matter to council at its July 16 meeting, saying that the “inconsistencies” in policy and execution were thwarting the resident advisory boards from operating at their prime.
“This leads to a lot of ad hoc management, different outcomes, different expectations, and different ways of doing business, which really creates a lot of confusion for staff and creates more time and effort for our administration and commission,” Friend said. “I also feel very strongly that (since) we have our residents volunteering to do this work, I want to honor their time.”
Coronado’s 12 resident advisory boards span several purposes: quasi-judicial boards, which make decisions and apply rules; advisory boards, which offer recommendations to the council; and specific issue/stakeholder boards, which offer recommendations to city leaders on specific issues.
Friend said she wanted to create consistent bylaws, solidify the expectations of commissioners, and formalize how resources, both financial and staff time, are allocated among boards, a goal the council supported.
‘I’ve had some concern for years’
Friend’s request opened a conversation that was hinted at during this year’s community grant allocations: The role council members play in their appointed position on boards, committees, and commissions.
Council Member Carrie Downey brought it up, pointing to the five community organizations that have council liaisons appointed to them: Coronado MainStreet, the Coronado Historical Association, the Coronado SAFE Coalition, the Coronado Chamber of Commerce, and the Grand Caribe Task Force.
Four of those five organizations received funding from the city this year. Downey said the role of council member liaisons grows murky when it comes time to hand out community grants.
“I’ve had some concern for years, because it doesn’t make much sense to me that we appoint representatives from the city to go to certain organizations to represent us,” Downey said. “What is our role at a board meeting of CHA? Technically, we shouldn’t be participating in their discussion of budget, especially since they’re going to be coming back to us to ask for money.”
The top three grant allocations this year went to organizations with council member liaisons: Safe Harbor received $125,000. The Coronado Chamber of Commerce received $109,000. The Coronado Historical Association (CHA) received $104,000.
Coronado MainStreet, whose funding, efficacy, and purpose was scrutinized in this year’s grant allocations, received $20,000.
Downey suggested it could be a conflict of interest to have council members involved with some organizations in an official capacity because it could unfairly help them with their grant applications. She also said for some boards, such as the Golf Course Advisory Commission, it made no sense to have a council representative.
“I don’t think we need to be at any of these,” she said. “And if we decide that we should, we need to set the criteria (for sending a representative).”
All appointments, and the council members assigned to them, can be seen here.
Council Member Mike Donovan said that the council liaisons are not decision makers.
“We are not members of the board; we don’t vote with the board,” he said. “If the board members have questions about something having to do with the city, we’re there to respond; if they want our feedback on certain things, we can give the feedback, but we have nothing to do with their decision making.”
Donovan also pointed out that while many cities have an in-house economic development team, Coronado does not.
“We depend on these community nonprofits, and I’m sure we could add a few more – Discover Coronado is one,” Donovan said.
Still, he said he agreed that the council should take a look at its policies and create consistency in expectations. He suggested that staff member could also act as liaison if appropriate.
Council Member Casey Tanaka said a conversation council member liaisons should consider is the context. Perhaps decades or more ago, it made sense to send a liaison to a group that now seems puzzling, he said.
He also said that appointees tended to turn over their roles to subsequent council members by way of oral tradition, which allowed each appointment to morph on its own over the years.
“I think what we need to do when the time comes is put it in writing: What is our expectation of people who go to MainStreet or CHA?” Tanaka said.
However, he suggested that, with a new mayor and council on the horizon in this year’s election, making choices now may be irrelevant.
“It might make sense to postpone this until the next council comes in,” he said. “The one variable you can’t control is that, presumably, one of the three people up here who are running will be the next mayor, and that person will have a prerogative for how they want to fill this list (of appointments). … It might be silly for the five of us to make a decision, and then three of us are gone.”
Council Member John Duncan suggested that the conversation move beyond council appointments and into setting a policy about city leaders serving on outside boards in non-appointed capacities.
He said he felt the need to resign from the board of the CHA when he was elected, as an example. (He is now the alternative council liaison for the group, though, as Donovan noted, his position is not a decision-making one.)
“I just want there to be clear rules,” Duncan said. The discrepancy in HOA appointments was one of his examples.
More broadly, Duncan said he wants to limit council and staff time on “groups in search of a mission” that are no longer filling a pressing need.
“I’d almost rather have a group of people from our community who are willing to serve available for ad hoc projects if the council wants advice,” Duncan said.
Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey agreed that the policy needed to be streamlined and clarified, particularly with community organizations that receive funding.
“I’ve never quite felt comfortable with that participation either,” Bailey said.
Friend brought the issue before the council for feedback before she and staff researched the matter and brought back recommendations for action. It will come before the council again at a later, yet to be determined, date.
“It looks like our city manager has quite a few notes there,” Bailey joked.
