After heated discussion, Planning Commission bylaws to stay unchanged

An attempt to codify when information is posted online for Planning Commission members and the public is not moving forward, but the discussion about the issue revealed strain on the dais at the commission’s last meeting.

Commissioners Nadia Barrera-Ramirez and Jennifer Mushtaler proposed a change to the commission bylaws that would require relevant documents known as backup materials to be posted 72 hours prior to meetings. The resolution comes after some commissioners didn’t have information to supplement their agenda until the afternoon before their previous meeting. Though Planning Commission members are appointed volunteers, their agendas are typically the most demanding of the city commissions, with extensive documentation for most cases and meetings that frequently run late into the night.

“It is really hard for me to do this and work full time and take care of two children and review all of these cases. I really need time to be able to do that. It was impossible for me to do it last time,” Barrera-Ramirez said. “I’m just asking for us to codify this in some way. I’m not asking to delay cases, I’m just asking for a staff report, which is something they have to do anyway.”

Though it had been the practice in the past, current bylaws don’t require backup to be posted by Friday, which is what the resolution sought to enforce. Andrew Rivera, who has served as the board liaison for eight years, has been put on leave and his replacement, said Barrera-Ramirez, didn’t post the backup until much later, giving commissioners very little time to read through the lengthy documentation surrounding each case.

Though most commissioners and staff agreed that posting by Friday was a best practice for the sake of commissioners and public transparency, some thought that the resolution was overly reactive, given the breadth of the issue.

Commissioner Awais Azhar said that he was worried about unintended consequences that could lead to delays and a slower process when backup wasn’t available.

“On a personal level, I am truly disheartened,” he added. “I have served on this commission for five years. … We have never known for backup not to be posted by 5 p.m. on that Friday. It truly is once. … This feels so punitive.”

Azhar also expressed concern about an overall vibe shift, with commissioners increasingly grilling staff instead of working hand in hand.

“It feels like we’re in a court of law where we are putting people through a deposition and that is not our job,” he said.

Commissioner Alberta Phillips said she did not like the characterization of the commission.

“We are doing the best we can to do our jobs. And we have a right to ask pressing questions to do the public’s job. My job is not to work for staff, it is to work for the public.”

Much of the discussion surrounded the commission’s relationship to city staff. Mushtaler, who co-sponsored the resolution, clarified she did not mean it to be a dig at staff, but an issue of public transparency and getting needed information to commissioners.

“Unfortunately, because there’s been a changeover in staff, that hasn’t happened consistently, and that’s been problematic for us to be able to do what we need to do,” Mushtaler said. “I just don’t want it to be a personal personnel discussion. I want it to be in the bylaws so whoever is serving in that capacity understands the expectation.

“A lot of people would argue that 72 hours isn’t long enough to engage the public fully in a truly transparent process, but at least it’s a start,” Mushtaler said. “I don’t understand why there is such a thought that having this information out for the commission and for the public is a bad ask. How is having information available a bad ask?”

Planning Department Zoning Officer Joi Harden told commissioners that she did not think the change in bylaws would be helpful, and assured them that, with training, they would return to the standard practice of posting the agenda and backup by 3 p.m. on Friday.

Commissioner Felicity Maxwell said that she felt the issue was a “one-time situation” provoked by a staff transition, and she was convinced by Harden’s assurances that it wouldn’t be an issue going forward. 

“I’m really unclear why we’re taking time tonight to overly complicate something and add something to our bylaws that just seems unnecessary,” she said.

Without the support of a supermajority of the commission, a motion to change the bylaws failed, with Phillips, Barrera-Ramirez, Mushtaler, Grayson Cox and Adam Haynes voting in favor of the change and Ryan Johnson abstaining.

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