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The fate of Berkeley’s many citizen commissions remains in question after the City Council Tuesday failed to reach a consensus on reducing the number of times city commissions will be able to meet. 

The council will debate the matter again June 21. 

With 44 citizen advisory bodies, Berkeley, per capita, is the unquestioned Bay Area commission king. Although supporters hail it as a model of representative democracy, some city officials, noting that city staff has been cut 10 percent over the past few years, say that staffing the monthly meetings has drained resources. 

Two months ago, City Manager Phil Kamlarz proposed reducing meetings for 23 commissions from 11 times a year to six or three times a year. As a compromise, Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Linda Maio last week proposed allowing some of those commissions to meet eight times a year and others to meet six times. 

To further soften the impact on commissions, Bates and Maio amended their proposal to grant those commissions proposed for eight meetings a year a ninth meeting and the opportunity to petition the city manager or the council for a tenth meeting. Commissions scheduled for six meetings a year would have the option to hold eight meetings, and petition for a ninth. 

Additionally, Bates and Maio agreed that the Humane Commission, Solid Waste Commission, Public Works Commission and the Commission on Disabilities could have a minimum of eight meetings a year, rather than six as originally proposed. 

The concessions were not enough to sway some councilmembers, who argued that the city should encourage greater citizen involvement at a time when national politics have left many feeling excluded. 

“When better financial times return, we’ll be stuck with a mindset of less participation,” said Councilmember Max Anderson, who called on the council to look for ways to reduce the burden on staff without cutting down commission meetings. 

Councilmembers Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington backed proposals made by various commissioners to have commission members or disinterested parties, such as university students, take meeting minutes to spare staff members. 

City Manager Phil Kamlarz said the city couldn’t rely on volunteers to take meeting minutes or notice meetings because state law required a high level of consistency and if the volunteers failed to meet state standards the city could be held responsible. He estimated that his proposal would save about two full-time staff positions, and said he would begin work to estimate the savings from the Bates-Maio plan. 

Meanwhile councilmembers Laurie Capitelli and Gordon Wozniak wanted to further scale back commissions beyond the Bates and Maio plan. 

They proposed consolidating Public Works and Solid Waste into a single commission; the Energy Commission and the Community Environmental Advocacy Commission into another; as well as consolidating the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Waterfront Commission. 

Wozniak argued that by widening the scope of the commissions, the city would save time and attract more citizens to serve on them and follow their deliberations. 

Capitelli also proposed that the council close the loophole that allows some commissioners to serve more than eight consecutive years by resigning from the commission just before their term expires and then getting reappointed. He argued that the members with longer tenures tended to dominate meetings, “and discourage participation by other citizens.” 

The commission debate spilled over into a brief public hearing on the city’s proposed fiscal year 2006 budget. Of the 11 speakers, four argued against cutting commission meetings. Several speakers also used the forum to voice their opposition to radio tracking devices now being used on library books, while three members of SEIU, Local 535 argued against proposed job reductions. 

The council also agreed to further postpone adopting the Precautionary Principle ordinance, while the law’s chief backer, Councilmember Worthington, and city staff review proposed language in the ordinance. The law is designed to help the city make proactive environmentally sensitive decisions in purchasing, contracting and other activities. 

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