Alachua County Commission discusses ways to improve advisory board participation and diversity
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – During a special meeting this afternoon, the Alachua County Commission discussed ways to improve advisory board participation and diversity.
In June, the board directed staff to bring back information on ways to thank citizens for their service on advisory boards and look at ways to increase diversity and participation, and in response, Assistant County Manager Gina Peebles told the board today that there are currently 207 board and committee members who serve on 42 boards, with 89 current vacancies. Information on the boards, their meeting times, and vacancies can be found here. Peebles said the current policy is to appoint a board member on the Commission’s consent agenda if there is only one application, but if there are multiple applications, the appointments are placed on the regular agenda.
Commissioner Anna Prizzia said she felt “like we’re not doing a good enough job of recruiting people, and I feel like that’s our job as Commissioners… [These are] the boards that are providing us advice and information, and we all have contacts in all of these spaces… I have to believe that with a little bit more push and a little bit more promotion, we could get more applicants, and then it would be on our regular agenda… We should have more applicants. We should have more people wanting these positions.”
After a discussion about ways to work in announcements about board vacancies at various events related to the purposes of specific boards, Prizzia said, “I think that if we want to be intentional about diversity, then we have to be intentional about the demographics of our existing committees, and we have to be intentional about what it is that we’re after… I think it’s hard to say we want diversity, but then… you pick from the applicants you get, and sometimes they answer the demographic questions and sometimes they don’t – and if they do, then is that something that all of our Commissioners are taking into consideration?”
Chair Mary Alford responded, “I look at the demographics of the applicants, but I don’t always know what the rest of the committee looks like… Do I need to look at a woman applicant, but all the rest of the folks are women? I don’t know. What else do we need to have a good, balanced board?”
Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler asked, “Do we need to go back to the quota system?” and Alford responded, “No, I don’t think so, but when I’m looking at applicants, I want to understand the group.” Wheeler asked, “You don’t want to discourage anyone from applying just because they don’t fit a demographic, right?” Prizzia said, “Definitely not,” and Wheeler added, “It’s kind of tricky to have that conversation.”
Prizzia said the County’s Equity Committee could make recommendations and help with recruitment to increase diversity: “[They could] look at our different boards and make recommendations on where equity is a challenge or an issue.” She said that she wants to have “people from all over the county,… men and women, of different socioeconomic backgrounds, the best you can, but you don’t get a ton of information on those questions. [You get] racial background, you get addresses, you get some basics.” She said often the best they can do is look at whether they have men and women, young and old, and people from different districts, but Wheeler pointed out that age is optional on the application form.
Prizzia said she also wants the County to do a better job of showing appreciation to people who serve on the boards and that she’d like more consistency on how the various boards are run.
County Manager Michele Lieberman said the County used to have an Advisory Board Coordinator, and she is working on building that back into a job description.
Peebles said another way to reduce vacancies would be to replace hard-to-fill seats (which often require a professional certification or experience) with citizen-at-large seats; she mentioned that the Lending Institution Representative seat on the Human Rights Board has been unfilled for about 15 years. She also recommended tracking volunteer hours for advisory board and committee members and recognizing them with an annual appreciation lunch and certificates for achieving milestones.
New software will track volunteers and their hours
Commissioners watched a demonstration of new software that will track volunteer hours; once a volunteer signs up, they can see suggested volunteer opportunities, and any hours they serve can be viewed and downloaded, making it easy to document volunteer hours for Bright Futures, for example. Once a volunteer creates an account on the system, their information is saved, and they can apply for future opportunities without having to enter all their information again.
Prizzia said, “The only other thing I wanted to say about the diversity side of things is that I think that if we want more diversity, we’re going to have to get more creative about when these meetings are held and if we’re going to offer things like childcare and/or food, because I think for a lot of the people – and I know that that gets expensive and it gets into more cost, which may not be something we want to tackle right now – but I just want to bring it up that for many people, the reason that they don’t serve on these things is because they have jobs that don’t allow them to take time off to go do it, and if they did it in the evening, they have other family responsibilities, so – something to think about.”
Alford said, “I’m going to talk about that exact thing at a future meeting.”
Motion
Commissioner Ken Cornell made a four-part motion:
- Ask staff to develop an action plan, which would include interactions with the communications department, discussions with each of the advisory boards, and interaction with the Board of County Commissioners, to seek to fill the advisory board vacancies over the next fiscal year.
- Ask staff to review the advisory boards to make sure they have diversity in their membership and, where necessary, bring back recommendations to the Commission.
- Ask staff to develop a volunteer and advisory board appreciation luncheon event.
- Look at previous advisory board resolutions and bring back any recommendations for very hard-to-fill vacancies or other issues.
Wheeler seconded the motion.
The motion passed 4-0, with Commissioner Chuck Chestnut absent.
Might help if they actually cared about and listened to the advice from everyone rather than their handpicked lot.
Let me rephrase that. Those unwilling to listen to ideas other than their own are destined to keep making the same mistakes.
Since advisory board recommendations are voted on and presented to the BOCC as from the advisory board, not individual members, there is no opportunity for the BOCC to only listen to “their handpicked lot.” Since most of the boards have vacancies and rarely have competition for placement, it is inaccurate to describe their members as handpicked.
The Board votes on the members and they tend to surround themselves with those who share the same ideologies. If you don’t think they have their favorites you’re mistaken.
See Charter Review Commission.
The solution is very easy. Do what I did as the Back-Ward Mayor of Gainesville. We wanted to get our homeless numbers down so I started a City of Gainesville Ambassador Program which I used to pay homeless people to be our ambassadors we pay them a salary of 52K a year, gave them a bike, flashlight, and a walkie-talkie (with no batteries cause we don’t want to hear from them) and with the pay they receive they were able to buy tents and are no longer homeless. Did you noticed what we didn’t give them? Ok Ok OK I’ll tell you; we didn’t give them a work schedule; they are on the honor system. Now if my minion Mini-Keeny Cornhole would fill “advisory boards” with homeless and pay them he could help the homeless numbers be reduced further. The best part is you don’t have to worry how to pay for you just raise the taxes and fees on the underlings that you rule over, and even better than that the underlings will continue to vote us into office over and over again, so it is a win win for us, but not so much for the underlings.
Says the pathetic impersonator who has no accomplishments of his own. You really should turn off your computer, get out of your mother’s basement and try to actually do something with your life.
Look here Troof be Mold. Just for the record I am not an impersonator. I am the real back-Ward Mayor of Gainesville, AKA ruler of all, including the county commissioners (especially Mini-Kenny). I am ruler of the underlings and commoners. I am the giver to the homeless and taker from the working man and woman. I am the setter of the taxes, fees, and surcharges (sky is the limit). I am the eater of the donutz, by the dozen. I am the robber of GRU. I am creator of the sweat stains around city hall. I am the listener to no one, and the one on a whim making unreasonable demands. And yes, I do plan on leaving my basement just as I do every day, so that I can go “visit” you mom.
Bless your heart. Hahahahahaha!
As I said most boards do not have competition for positions and virtually no one who applies is turned down. If you want to get on one, the odds are you will.
The main reason people get on advisory boards is because they want to run for higher office.
False. Some yes. but a very small number.
Then half true. Not false
It is not the “main reason” and is therefore false.
Prizza shows her true colors.
She said intentional instead of prejudiced.
These c o c k r o a c h e s only care about a very specific type/kind of diversity!They have no use for diversity of opinion, only sheep in lockstep with their pro government anti freedom beliefs!
If you actually got involved you’d realize this is not true. But I suppose it’s easier for you to just make stuff up.
The FACT that the parasites are against rural areas that having a vote/representative that aligns with their values says all we need to know to realize what I typed is 💯 percent true!
Rural area voters pay taxes as well and these parasites believe rural voters should receive no benefits from their taxes other than the ditches mowed once every 3 months during the summer!
As long as the existing commission is in place , no one with a brain and morals that supports common senses without confines will participate in your wasteful FJB agenda and oversight. The sooner this commission resigns and acknowledge their failures the better this County could heal and prosper.
Thanks to Bidenomics, most “diverse” people have 2-3 jobs. So you’re only going to get retired old white folks on the advisory boards.
But is that really bad? 🤔🧐🙃
jk is headed the right direction.
Their own numbers show they have a 30% vacancy rate. Why can’t they attract applicants?
1. Each board of unpaid volunteer citizens is overseen by a full time county employee called a “liaison.” They tend to work at the courthouse. Thus board meetings start at 5:30 or 6 PM, in the courthouse building, which is convenient for THEM cuz they just got off work and are already parked downtown. NO citizen with a real full time job in High Springs or Waldo can drive thru 5 o’clock traffic and make a 5:30 meeting in downtown Gainesville. They cannot consider applying for a board unless they are the unemployed spouse of a high paid person, or retired. This eliminates a large chunk of the county population from consideration.
2. The volunteers are unpaid. This is not true, they are actually paid NEGATIVE. A board member might have to pay $20 for child care, $10 for gas to drive downtown, $5 to park, and $10 for a cheap snack to tide them over. For the privilege of serving on a board, a person must be wealthy enough to subsidize the county $45 per month. This eliminates another large chunk of the population from being able to consider applying. As they mentioned, if the county wants to greatly expand the applicant pool, at the minimum they will fund child care, gas money or a free Uber ride, a meal at the meeting, and perhaps $20 cash.
3. The county has a Diversity and Equity Board. WHY THE H ARE THEY NOT DOING THEIR JOB? The county wants unpaid citizen volunteers to lose money serving on a board. Meanwhile, the other person in the room is a county liaison, like the assistant county manager getting vastly overpaid at $200,000 per year. Equity? Heck no, this is a plantation-slaver overseer situation. Why isn’t the Equity Board screaming from the rooftop about this grossly Unequitable situation? This alone proves the DEI Board is a total joke and do nothing waste of time who does not understand what true equity really is. It doesn’t matter, the BOCC does not listen to any of their boards anyway.
4. The county lumps all their boards together, which is very wrong. They have two types of boards. One is pure advisory, like Historical Preservation or Bike Path Beautification boards. Almost all of them could be eliminated and no wound would miss them or notice their absence. There is a totally different type of board, like the Wild Spaces Spending Oversight Board. This is an ordinance created mandated board, overseeing the spending of millions of dollars of tax dollars. They are required to exist and cannot be eliminated. They should never be lumped in with the pure advisory boards.
OK, but you imply there’s a scam going on and so not serving is somehow a justified reaction. Try most people – including the loudmouths who predominate on this site and obviously – like me – love shooting their mouths off – are just too damn lazy to make the effort – “poor, poor me!” – to make a constructive effort toward local government.
1. I have been on 2 boards. 1 started at 6, the other at 7 and ran to 8 and up to 10 pm. Staff – they are not just liasons – have to stay of course and in my experience were helpful, responded to direction – in whatever direction – by the board and provided research and organization. We did meet at the County Administration Building, the Seagle building, and the North Central Florida Refional Planning Council headquarters way up off North SR121, just west of US 441. We had a say in where we met, including voting for locations when there were options. Staying after 8 or 9 is not necessarily better for everyone than going straight from work and getting home earlier, so not sure how you get that.
2. Pay members? I don’t think so. It’s understood that you are both contributing a service and in a privileged
position by virtue of a heightened – if not great or powerful – impact on public policy.
3. See 2, putting aside your exagerrated comments on county employees. Typical staff at meetings are not “county managers” and while I don’t know their pay, I seriously doubt it is 6 figures.
4. While you are correct that some boards have a lot of power while others – most – are strictly advisory, you don’t tell us what the problem with “lumping them together” is or what un-lumping them would accomplish.
As to diversity, on a gender basis, my experience is pretty even women to men. On age, a little heavy on retirees, but also a real mix with middle aged people and a fair number of youngish student types. Race? Virtually zero blacks and small number of others – mostly white.
While promoting diversity by making the existence of these boards and need for members more public across all demographics, I don’t agree with forcing the issue in anyway. These are voluntary positions with little reward – leave them that way. All you loudmouths? Volunteer and make your words have a little more meaning. You might even appreciate the governmental process in a democracy a little.
jazzman: Thank you for your service.
Over the years I have attended advisory board meeting, watched more on video, listened to some on audio, and read the minutes of even more. Some, like the Rural Concerns board, have excellent concerned members, lively open discussion, and good minutes. Others have a difficult finding enough members to have a quorum. Some have constantly rotating members and many vacancies, and only get anything thing done because one or two long term members carry the entire workload. The Climate Advisory Committee had two five year members who fit this description. They both just retired. County lists 4 vacancies. Can they even have a quorum to show up and do anything? Or will this board dissolve into nothingness?
Re: 2. One board had as liaison Gina Peebles, Assistant County Manager for Community and Administrative Services/Chief of Staff
County HR: salary range $110,558.86 – $185,876.91 Annually
With her years of county employment and longevity raises, she is no doubt toward the top of the range.
I have one good thing to say. As liaison, she typed the board’s minutes herself. She did a most excellent job. I would expect no less, as the job she held previous to a high position in Alachua County was as a secretary in the Recreation Department in Marion County.
Suggestion: research county staff salaries. See how many do a lousy job that a smart tenth grader could do, and get over $100,000 a year. Only governments can pay six figures to people who can barely count to six. Most of them would not be worth $35K a year in a local private company. The county pays big bucks to hire politicly loyal lackies. And gets them. They remain, get internal promotions, and populate the entire upper government. Only place with higher overpayment rates is Gainesville and GRU.
4-Delumping. Tax money oversight boards are not advisory, they have real power to affect things. Pure advisory boards send a report to the BOCC, who says, “Thank you. Nice.” and then does nothing with the advice. Oversight boards should not be on the same web page as advisory boards, and should not use the same application forms and process as an advisory. Because they are lumped together, the BOCC gives the oversight boards the same respect they give their advisory boards: none.
Thanks, but I don’t feel I need any thanks for being on a board. As I said, I view it as a minor service but with the privilege of heightened influence.
The staff member that oversees the board I am on now makes $33.60 an hr, which means about $69k a year. She does much more than act as a “liason”, helping set the agenda – which members have input on – getting experts for presentations on the issues, organizing meetings, etc.
The previous board I was on had staff from the North Florida Central Planning Council, which were not county employees, but I assume subcontractors.
In both instances, staff was very active and helpful without trying to steer decisions.
Yes, the BOCC can ignore advisory board recommendations, but that’s up to them. It can provide them with cover for unpopular decisions as it supposedly represents the people of the county.
As you note, meetings can be and usually are very informative and lively, and sometimes contentious as there can be a wide range of opinions. The public is always invited to attend any meetings.
For all you loudmouths pretending to care so much about local government, go to a couple of meetings and see what they’re about, and apply for one to actually impact events in a small way and maybe learn something. Or just keep on limply bitching about everything, as if problems were easy.
For someone who writes: “while I don’t know their pay, I seriously doubt it is 6 figures.”
Fact: Alachua County HR Dept lists 162 job descriptions with salaries over $100,000. That be 6 figures.
All are not single positions, here may be multiple people with the same job description.
Thanks for the info – link?
530 job descriptions:
https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/alachua/classspecs
out of
https://www.alachuacounty.us/Depts/HR/Pages/HumanResources.aspx
Enjoy.
Yawn….More woke drivel from our elected leaders.
Diversity of occupation, age, political affiliation might be useful. I don’t at all understand what automatically makes people of different racial or ethnic background have different needs when it comes to government services and regulation.
They’re commonly referred to as “wants” or “expectations” of the government’s role in providing for them.
Vainilla: The hot buzz of “DEI’ is a theory. Somewhere someone made the assumption that any and all groups, whether it be a corporate board of directors, or a production design team somewhere in the company, will do better, more productive, and more creative work IF the team is composed of as many different ages, genders, races, ethic backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, political backgrounds and countries of origin as possible.
This is only a theory.
It has never been proven.
In my opinion it cannot and will never be proven because it is wrong.
Reports of it’s success are anecdotal on a case by case basis, not overall.
If you are designing clothing to appeal to as broad a base as possible, perhaps a diverse design team is beneficial.
The flaw in this theory is that every person does not have the same abilities, so all warm bodies are NOT interchangeable. For whatever reasons, some people are better at certain things than other people.
If I am hiring a team of computer programmers based ONLY on ability to get the best technical team, the diversity falls where it may and cannot be used as a hiring criterion. I may end up with a group of computer programmers that are 90% males of white, Indian, or Chinese ancestry ages 28-33. They were not hired because they were the stereotypical “computer programmer” found in movies, the stereotype exists because this group has many people that excel at computer programming. Diversity hiring computer programmers can only result in hiring less qualified individuals, which can only result in a lower quality final product.
Saying “I will not hire women” is discrimination.
Saying “I will hire the woman regardless of qualifications” is affirmative action, and discrimination against men.
Saying “My last hire was a male, thus for the next hire, with applicants of equal ability, I must hire the female” is DEI in action, discrimination, and BS.
Recently some companies have been scrapping DEI programs due to outside pressure, or the realization that DEI is not improving anything. Coors beer dropped internal corporate DEI yesterday.
DEI theory assumes all people have equal abilities. Proponents should put their body where their mouth is. When they get brain cancer, they should NOT pay $20,000 to hire the stereotype brain surgeon, a 40 year old male with 21 years of training. Diversify! For $20 and a bottle of wine you can hire a 60 year old 3rd grade dropout at Grace Marketplace and let them do your brain surgery.
DEI theory says he/she/them/it is just as qualified. Your hire.
A lot of words to misinterpret and trash DEI. Humans innately favor those like themselves or who fit a stereotype, but talent is available across our many races and across genders. This is recent and new and in some way in reaction to a recent past of white male dominance in hiring and placements. In those situations where that is still the case, or maybe the predominant employee is a woman or black, there can be an advantage to look outside those groups for new hires. That doesn’t mean you must hire outside, but a survey of other types gives new possibilities, not to mention a possibly wider experiential knowledge.
Imagine it is 1960 again and all the women now in the workforce were home or limited to teaching and nursing. We would be a weaker and less productive country as far as the economy is concerned. That is the point of DEI, an expansion of the talent pool, the US in the Paris Olympics.
The county commission is made up of three ultra-liberal white ladies (four if you count Ken Cornell), and then local seat-filler / nepotism product Chucky Chestnut.
Giving this banal hivemind more input into the screening process is not going to improve diversity of thought or provide any benefit to the citizens of Alachua County.
We should be selecting the most qualified candidates without regard to skin color or sex, regardless of what the prejudiced bigots on the Alachua County Commission believe.
Most members I have met are pretty smart and accomplished – that’s not a problem – and there is usually not competition for seats. When there is I’m fairly sure commissioners will favor those they may know or know of or else they go by the application information or references. That’s human nature.
Pandering Prizzia and the woke commission at it again…big shocker!
What a complete clown operation.All they discuss is diversity. Weirdos