I’ve often been critical of the people appointed to our city committees city committees, usually because they completely lack qualifications relevant to the work of that committee. And I’ve defended the city manager more times than I can count, especially when people accuse him of surrounding himself with rubber-stampers.
But I can’t make sense of this latest appointment, which will almost certainly be approved by the city council, because every committee appointment is approved without question.
Plan Commission
The Plan Commission holds massive power over a city’s future. They decide what gets built, where it goes, and how your neighborhood will look and function for decades to come. Whether it’s deciding if a store can open near your home or if apartments are allowed in a neighborhood, their decisions directly impact property values, your peace and quiet, the types of neighbors you’ll have, and whether downtown thrives or declines.
This is where the real groundwork of the city’s future is laid, long before the council ever votes.
Commission Members
Our Plan Commission is made up of seven members:
- City manager (Greg Buckley)
- City engineer (Matt Heckenlaible)
- One council member (Adam Wachowski)
- Four citizen members with related and recognized experience and qualifications
Those four citizen members are where we’ve gotten lax on city committees, and the Plan Commission is no exception. We’ve usually had a lawyer in the mix, which is good, but the rest has been a crapshoot.
Citizen Qualifications
State and city laws are a bit vague:
- State: Citizen members shall be persons of recognized experience and qualifications.
- City: Four citizen members with related and recognized experience and qualifications.
But we can look to cities like Janesville that spell out what they’re looking for. Their criteria include:
- Ability to interpret and reference standards, ordinances, and statutes.
- Ability to construct conditions of approval necessary to meet applicable requirements.
- Open-mindedness.
- Ability to weigh competing individual and community interests.
- Ability to deliberate within a group setting.
- Ability to read and envision two-dimensional plan sets and drawings.
- Ability to maintain awareness of community needs and goals as set forth by City plans and ordinances.
- Applicants from legal, financial, insurance, real estate, lending, engineering, business owner/management, medical, building, contracting, education, architecture, and public administration fields are desirable.
Appointing an Unqualified Candidate
Do these look like the qualifications of someone who should have the power to decide what gets built in our city – someone who can approve an apartment complex, deny building plans for a factory, or shape zoning laws for neighborhoods for years to come?
“Do you have any special skills, knowledge, experience, or interest that related to the [Plan Commission]?”
- Sales
- People skills
- Subcontractor for building our home
- Writer
- Minor in Psychology
City Council Approval
It’s clear the city manager isn’t taking this seriously, and based on past behavior the city council doesn’t either.
Applicants rarely show up to the meeting. Council members don’t ask them questions… They don’t ask the city manager anything either. It’s just a unanimous “yes” and the appointment goes through. Another unqualified person ends up controlling the city’s future for generations.
We have far more qualified people in this city than this. Contact the city council and demand they start putting the right people on these committees:
