The commission system is a crucial means of connecting the city council to the general public, and drawing on the unique expertise available in Davis. I myself have actively participated in the system, serving as vice chair of the Natural Resources Commission and having been selected by my colleagues to chair the Governance Task Force. As Chair of the Governance Task Force, I helped examine ways to strengthen and improve the efficiency of the commission system; recommendations to this effect were included in the task force report submitted to the city council last spring.

Commissions have the responsibility to offer their best advice to the city council. The city council ought to consider commission recommendations carefully, recognizing the level of expertise of commission members and depth of study commissions can provide. We are fortunate to have so many people with a public policy background in the community, and the council should make use of their knowledge.

Nevertheless, it must be remembered that the council members are elected by the city as a whole and therefore have a responsibility to consider views in addition to those expressed by commissions. Council members need to take account of the entire community’s interests as well as opinions expressed by staff and Davis residents not serving on commissions. Furthermore, there may be cases in which different commissions offer somewhat different advice on the same topic, and council members need to balance those opinions.

When I am elected to the council, I will take several additional steps aimed at strengthening the commission process. First, I will try to engage commissions early rather than at the end of the deliberative process. Second, I will pose questions to commissions consistent with their areas of expertise. Third, I will have the commissions provide minority as well as majority opinions, where applicable. Fourth, I will encourage holding more joint meetings between the council as a whole and the appropriate commission(s). Such steps should help to ensure that commission input is meaningful to council decision making.

Finally, it is worth noting that the commission system is only one means of connecting the council to the public, and only a minority of citizens participate in local government through commissions. We need to find other ways as well to involve members of the public in Davis city government.