TITLE
Recommendation to request City Attorney to draft an ordinance amending Chapter 2.18 of the Long Beach Municipal Code relating to Advisory Boards, Commissions and Committees, to clarify the role and procedures of the various City of Long Beach advisory bodies. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
City Council approval is recommended to request the City Attorney prepare an Ordinance amending Chapter 2.18 - Advisory Boards, Commissions and Committees of the Long Beach Municipal Code (LBMC), intended to clarify the roles, responsibilities, and administrative procedures of the City of Long Beach’s (City) advisory bodies.
The City’s Advisory Boards, Commissions and Committees (bodies) serve an important role in the City’s policy-making and engagement efforts. The advisory bodies afford the City Council and staff various sounding boards to gather valuable community input, provide a formal structure for reviewing various policies, and allow the City to benefit from engaged individuals who bring ideas, experience, and creativity to the City’s policy-making process.
The valuable input and recommendations by the various bodies to the City Council on a wide range of local issues highlight the importance of community engagement and sound governance. However, both the bodies and the City Council have recently expressed some confusion about the bodies’ roles and responsibilities, including best practices for how bodies should operate, transmit ideas to the City Council, and set agendas. Moreover, a lack of clearly identifiable roles and guidelines have prevented the bodies from operating in an effective and efficient manner. In response, the Offices of the Mayor, City Manager, and the City Attorney have discussed various options to enhance the delivery of services by the bodies, and determined that amending key sections of the LBMC pertaining to the bodies would significantly improve how the bodies operate with the City Council and City staff.
The proposed changes will enable mem...
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