If volunteers on Palm Beach Town Hall boards are going to be critical of development projects or other issues, they should express their views professionally and without personal attacks.
That’s what Town Council members said during a recent discussion centered on improving the effectiveness, efficiency and practices of Palm Beach’s boards and commissions.
The June 9 meeting marked the council’s second bite at the process, after the topic was first broached during the council’s May 12 meeting. At that meeting, recently elected Council Member Nicki McDonald said the exercise was meant to ensure the town’s boards and commissions — and the ordinances that govern them — are working as the town intends.
According to a memorandum prepared by Town Hall staff, staff members in May were directed to review the town’s current policies, practices and ordinances pertaining to the volunteer boards. Once they formed recommendations, these were to be presented to the Town Council for review and potential adoption.
Those updates might include creating new boards to handle specialized topics, such as a zoning adjustment board, McDonald said during the May meeting.
When the review returned to the council in June, the staff proposed updates to the onboarding process for newly appointed board and commission members.
Currently, newly appointed board members are given several documents to familiarize themselves with the legal requirements, ethical obligations, meeting procedures and the expectations the town has for how they will serve the board, according to a town memo.
Before their first meeting, new members are required to confirm they have received the informational packet, must complete an oath to office and meet with staff, the memo states.
The staff has proposed adding a “code of conduct” form to the onboarding packet. According to the example provided during the meeting, the document would require appointees to sign statements acknowledging they will comply with the ethical and legal requirements set by the town and state, as well as maintain a civil manner when conducting official business.
“I will refrain from personal attacks, ridicules, hostility, abusive language, disruptive behavior or conduct that undermines the fair and respectful exchange of ideas,” the document states.
Council members praised the code of conduct as a fine short-form document that outlines many of the requirements set forth in the longer documents supplied to appointees.
“Great job, I think this is perfectly fine and appropriate,” Council Member Bridget Moran said.
McDonald asked whether it would be possible for the staff to create a short video about the onboarding process, as it may be a more digestible means of understanding how commissioners should deliver criticism.
She gave as an example a proposed new door for a house designed by noted Palm Beach architect John Volk that might be presented, say, at the Landmarks Preservation Commission or the Architectural Commission.
Instead of saying, “That door looks like it belongs in a TV show … you would say that door does not keep to the John Volk (architectural) style,” she said.
In previous years, some commissioners on the town’s Architectural Commission had found themselves in hot water over the disparaging comments about projects they thought were unsuited for the island.
As a guiding document, Council President Pro-Temp Lew Crampton said it should include a statement in which appointees acknowledge reviewing all the onboarding material related to their board appointment.
The June discussion also saw the council review how the town records the actions and minutes of board meetings.
The staff said they will bring back to the council an updated version of the code of conduct form for another discussion on July 14.
Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@pbdailynews.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach wants new board appointees to sign a code of conduct form
Reporting by Diego Diaz Lasa, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Diego Diaz Lasa, Palm Beach Daily News | USA TODAY Network
