City secretary proposes three‑times‑a‑year schedule and worksheet to improve board appointments

City Secretary Stephanie Coggins presented a proposed update to the city’s board and commission appointment process designed to spread appointments across three windows each year and improve council vetting.

Coggins said current appointments are concentrated once a year and staff recommend a triennial schedule (example: 12 boards in December, 9 in April, 14 in August). She described transition options that would require some terms to be extended by four or eight months so the schedule can be phased in without losing continuity. Coggins also proposed a worksheet system: staff would supply application packets and a short ranking worksheet so councilmembers can indicate preferences ahead of a meeting; staff would compile rankings as a starting point for open deliberation in public session.

Council members raised concerns about mandatory numeric rankings and the optics of assigning scores to applicants. Several preferred keeping applications open year‑round while still promoting appointment windows, and suggested stronger board involvement for recommendations where possible. Coggins noted some practical constraints: Texas Open Meetings Act can limit advisory boards’ ability to make formal recommendations on short notice, but liaisons could gather input informally.

Council directed staff to draft ordinance language to allow multiple appointment cycles and to return with transition language and an implementation approach that balances outreach, board recommendations and council deliberation.