City of Oneonta Attorney David Merzig proposed repealing previously imposed term limits for city boards and commission members at the Legislative Committee meeting Monday, April 13.
In February, the proposed reappointment of Margery Merzig to the Board of Public Service drew debate from Common Council members about how to interpret the city’s term limit law. A 2016 local law changed the length of terms from one year to three years, and the city capped the number of consecutive terms a person could serve on city boards and commissions.
Margery Merzig — who is married to David Merzig — was appointed to the BPS by Oneonta Mayor James F. Lettis in 1983. She mostly served on the board since, except during her stint on the Common Council.
At the Monday, March 9 meeting of the Legislative Committee, members discussed a potential waiver system that would allow outgoing board and commission members to continue on for a period after they have reached the term limit, allowing for the training of a new member and the transition of institutional knowledge.
Committee Chairperson Len Carson, D-Fifth Ward, asked Monday, April 13 if the committee would want to set the waiver for a maximum period of time, such as 12 months. Shannon McHugh, D-Third Ward, said this timeframe would be sufficient for training, but it might need to be renewed for another year if a board or commission has not been able to find somebody qualified to fill the space within the 12 months.
She added that the board or commission could vote on whether an exiting member should stay on through the training process. The board would need to vote again if the individual’s term is up before a new person is found.
“I don’t mind having a waiver, but I don’t know if I want to keep it in perpetuity,” Carson said.
He said one year is more than the individual is provided under current law.
“The ultimate goal is to get someone new,” Carolyn Marks, D-Seventh Ward, said.
David Merzig said he did not think there was a city charter provision that would prevent the council from imposing a system like this. Marks asked which board member or commissioner would have voting power — the former member staying on the additional year or the individual they are training.
Merzig said the newly appointee could become a voting member, and the former member could become an ad-hoc member who can participate, but not vote.
“I appreciate the suggestion, but we are appreciating the folks that are the existing member because of what knowledge and skills and abilities they have, and we would shift their voting power over to the newbie who has none of that?” Carson said.
Then Merzig suggested repealing term limits for committee members.
“They still have to be reappointed,” Merzig said. “It gives every council the power to address it every three years. If they don’t want to appoint them, they can not appoint them.”
“If there was a time where there were lots of members of boards and commissions that wanted to stay on, that’s fine,” Merzig continued. “We seem to be in an era where there are fewer and fewer people who are willing to spend the time and energy. It seems to me that for the philosophic benefit of saying we need new blood, you are throwing out the baby with the bath water.”
McHugh said when she started on the Commission on Community Relations and Human Rights there was no mission forward. She said “everybody was stagnant.” Merzig said as a council member, McHugh can now decide whether somebody gets reappointed if they are holding dead weight in their role.
He said if the “mechanism for replacing people on a board or commission was not working,” it is “not the fault of the mechanism” but the fault of the mayor or common council for reappointing people who were not moving the commission forward.
If the mayor appoints somebody who is ineffective, the council has the power to not vote in the person’s favor, Merzig said. He said there is already a two-step process in place to keep people who shouldn’t sit on a board or commission from serving.
Deputy City Clerk Bonnie Cuozzo said there are about 17 boards or commissions in the city, comprised of 101 members.
Marks asked what type of criteria council members could use to determine how somebody is performing on a board or commission. The council has to approve members every three years, so it should determine these qualities, Merzig said. He said council members should reach out to boards or commissions to ask if an individual is a good person to appoint before voting.
“We can go back to the ad-hoc members and we can add somebody and keep them on and do that, that is all possible too,” Merzig said. “It just seemed to me, from my perspective, that instead of trying to correct something complex, make it simple, cut it off and then go forward from there.”
The matter remains with the committee for further review.