Leesburg committee shuffle restricts town panels to residents
By Holly Hobbs
A recent vote by the Leesburg Town Council has narrowed the eligibility requirements for most of the town's committees to Leesburg residents.At its last meeting in June, the council voted 5-1-1 in favor of the change, with Councilmen Fernando “Marty Martinez against and David Schmidt absent.
Before, most of the town's 12 committees allowed for one or more members to be from outside of Leesburg. Out-of-towners, however, can still serve on the town's executive airport, Thomas Balch Library and economic development commissions. Council members said outside input would remain a plus for these committees.
“Why would we want a non-resident to be on the environmental commission or the [Internet Technology] commission?” asked Councilman Kenneth “Ken” Reid, who voted for the restriction. “What I want to see is something in here that strongly encourages town council members to appoint residents.”
Committee members, who spoke at the public hearing preceding the council's vote, encouraged the council to narrow the committee language.
“If we would have seven member that were all residents, we would have better attendance,” said Judy Craun, chair of the town's Public Arts Commission.
She said town residents are less likely to miss meetings because of their proximity to town hall.
James Roberts, a county resident serving on a town committee, disagreed saying, “If we say Leesburg residents only, you're going to have a lot of people from the county who's input will be discounted.”
In addition to committee composition changes, council voted to clarify the role of the council liaison to committees. They said the liaison serves as an important connection between the town's echelons, but the liaison's presence at meetings was not mandatory.
Instead of the liaison giving committee updates, Councilman Kevin Wright said, “The [committee] chair will send monthly activity reports to the clerk's office.” The reports will then be passed on to the town council.
Leesburg also voted to marry its Internet Technology and Cable TV Commissions, which will now be called the Technology and Communications Commission.
Wright said the merger was an important step for the town in utilizing television and Internet resources to communicate with town residents.
But Cable TV Chairman J.B. Anderson said he was not happy with the merger.
“ We may not have the strength or initiative to move forward,” he said before the council's vote. The two committees, both 14 members strong, will be merged into one seven-member committee. He asked council to wait for committee input before moving ahead with the combination.
Councilman Fernando “Marty” Martinez, alone in his opposition of the vote said, “I'm a little concerned about the rush of this and that some of the boards and commissions only found out about this today.” He said committee members were not given proper notification of the changes the council was voting on.
The majority of council, however, argued that the changes had been advertised and written about in local newspapers, so committee members should have known about the late-June vote.
Although the changes are already in effect, Wright said, county residents serving on boards won't be fired. They will serve out the rest of their terms, he said, and then be replaced with town residents.
Contact the reporter at hhobbs@timespapers.com