HomeMy WebLinkAboutA001 - Memo dated December 6, 2019 from City Attorney Mark Lambert CITY OF MEMO
Am e S, Legal Department
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To: Mayor Haila, Ames City Council
From: Mark O. Lambert, City Attorney
Date: December 6, 2019
Subject: Changing terms of Council member appointments to boards to coincide
with Council terms of office.
At the November 12, 2019 Council meeting, the Council passed a motion directing the
City Attorney to look into possibly changing the terms for the AEDC, ACVB, Transit,
and Watershed boards to calendar year expirations.
Following are the results of my research:
1. The Ames Convention & Visitor's Bureau: Appointments to the ACVB are
already on the basis of a calendar-year term.
2. The Ames Economic Development Commission: Appointments to the AEDC
currently begin on July 1. I spoke with Dan Culhane about this, and he
indicated he saw no problem with the Council members who serve on the
Commission's board doing so on a calendar-year basis. The current written
agreement between the City and AEDC is silent as to when the terms begin/end.
Mr. Culhane was fine with having a gentleperson's agreement to appoint the
Council members to the Commission on January 1, and we can amend the
agreement to state such when the agreement is up for renewal in June.
3. Ames Transit Board: The membership and terms of the board members of the
Ames Transit Board are set by section 26A.3 of the Ames Municipal Code.
Currently, terms begin on May 15. One Council member sits on this board. A
couple things to consider: Changing the term for the Council member will mean
that one member of the Transit Board will have a term that is out of sync with
the other members. Also, the budget for CyRide is typically set in January each
year, which would mean a new Council member appointed might be voting on a
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budget when seeing it for the first time at her/his first meeting. It will take an
ordinance change in order to have the Council member's term begin on January
1 st. If the Council wants to make this change, it can adopt a motion for the City
Attorney to draft such an ordinance, and we can have it ready for the Dec. 17
Council agenda.
4. The Squaw Creek Watershed Management Authority: Officials with the
SCWMA indicated that they did not see a problem problem with a City Council
member serving on their board starting January 1 of each year, though I am still
awaiting a final response as someone is reviewing their by-laws, and I hope to
have the final response soon.