Landscape Oversight Committee
Recommendation to City Council to Modify Member Residency Requirements
April 7, 2026
Recommendation:
The Committee is recommending the City Council modify the Landscape Oversight Committee residency requirements to allow at-large appointments for all members.
This recommendation is a result of having a position vacant in District 2 since October 2024. This position has not been filled due to the requirement that it be filled from that district. Unfortunately, we have been unable to fill that seat for District 2 due to lack of volunteers. However, we have citizens who are willing to fill the seat outside that district.
While recruitment is outside the scope of the Landscape Oversight Committee we have done out-reach but have not been successful in doing district-based volunteer recruitment. The “City” has also posted the vacancy trying to recruit since the seat became vacant. If we maintain a district-based structure, it seems to us the responsibility for district-based volunteer recruitment is the councilmember from the district needing representation on the committee.
We recognize that this recommendation changes the fundamental structure of the committee from district-based make-up to volunteer-based make-up. The at-large structure provides a larger pool from which to recruit volunteers who are interested in and qualified to make judgements about landscape maintenance. And while the current members of the Committee would become at large they would still represent the area they are from.
Quorum is sometimes still an issue. While the Committee may have gotten off to a slower start than we wanted due to the fact that we could not conduct some meetings in 2024 due to the issue of a lack of quorum. We are working on and are laser focused on developing a Strategic Plan. We believe the Committee would be better served to have additional members seated. It would be helpful to have additional members to work on specific “assignments” related to the Strategic Plan and to carry out the work of the Landscape Oversight Committee.