In its most recent response to its ongoing budget crisis, the Lompoc City Council is re-evaluating the role of the 11 commissions and committees that review city issues.
These commissions and committees cover a variety of city interests, such as public safety, and are made up of volunteers appointed by council members. But due to the costs associated with holding meetings for these groups, as well as a lack of public participation, the City Council discussed restructuring these groups at its Dec. 17 meeting.
“I think that the commissions all have a benefit to the city moving forward,” Councilmember Victor Vega said. “However, we are in a budgetary crisis. We do have staff reductions, and we do need to value our time a little bit more and staff time.”
According to a staff report for the meeting, it costs the city $116,000 annually to hold meetings for all commissions and committees. The amount of time city staff spends working with the utility, parks and recreation, and public safety commissions makes up the majority of these costs.
Vega, who asked staff to add this item to the council’s agenda in May 2019, pointed to the Economic Development Committee as an example of a committee that the city should re-evaluate. At 22 positions, he said the committee has grown too large to function properly, with meetings often being canceled because not enough members show up.
Councilmember Gilda Cordova had a different take on why participation at the Economic Development Committee is low. She said when she served on the committee, it seemed like the City Council didn’t want to hear recommendations from the committee, which she described as disheartening.
She also said that she believes this lack of public participation reflects the environment that the City Council has created through its policy decisions.
“Everything we ever talk about is cutting, cutting, cutting,” Cordova said. “So why would our public want to participate and be part of such an aggressive … route to constantly cut our services?”
Vega said he’s not pushing to “chop and hack” the Economic Development Committee but rather downsize the group. Even though it has 22 members, only 14 positions are currently filled, according to the meeting staff report.
Mayor Jenelle Osborne suggested that the council create an ad hoc committee of two council members that will meet with members of each committee in January to discuss potential changes. The ad hoc committee, made up of Osborne and Councilmember Jim Mosby, will then bring back recommendations to the City Council.
In a unanimous vote, the City Council members also eliminated the city’s Senior Commission. All five of the commission seats are currently vacant, and it hasn’t held a meeting since 2017.
This article appears in Dec 26, 2019 – Jan 2, 2020.
