Conduct interviews and consider appointment of an At-Large Planning Commissioner for a term ending January 31, 2027. (No general fund impact) (Lindbo/Cormier) (Est. Time: 5 min)

A. Conduct interviews with the following candidates and consider appointment of an At-Large Planning Commissioner for a term ending January 31, 2027:

B. Adopt the following procedure for the future selection to fill an At-Large Planning Commissioner vacancy: 

At its regularly scheduled meeting on September 12, 2023, the Board of Supervisors conducted interviews and considered an appointment of the vacant At-Large Planning Commissioner for a term ending January 31, 2027 (Agenda Item #34). At the conclusion of the item, the Board decided to delay the interviews and appointment consideration until the then vacant District 3 Supervisor seat had been filled, with the understanding that the current three applicants would remain in the pool and the process would not be open to other applicants (see Att. A. Minute Order No. 23-83). On October 4, 2023, Supervisor Vixie Sandy was appointed to represent District 3 by Governor Newsom and attended her first meeting on October 24, 2023. For the most part, the September 12, 2023, staff report has been copied here for reference and to provide the full Board with an opportunity to review the candidate selections and make a decision to appoint the At-Large Planning Commissioner.

BACKGROUND
The Yolo County Planning Commission consists of seven community members appointed by the Board of Supervisors. Each Supervisor appoints one Commissioner, and two 'At-Large' Commissioners may be nominated by any Supervisor and are appointed by a majority vote. One of the two At-Large Commissioner positions was vacated when Marcia Gibbs' term expired in January 2023 and the County began a recruitment process for filling the vacancy in early February, which was subsequently extended to ensure a qualified pool of applicants would be considered.
 

On June 6, 2023, the Board of Supervisors reviewed the above-described selection process for filling the At-Large Planning Commissioner vacancy, and decided to extend the application submittal date to July 1st and requested the applicants be invited to a future meeting, so the full Board could conduct public interviews among the candidates. The recruitment, which was extended twice, resulted in three application submittals from Yolo County residents. One application was received from Michael McCormick, who lives in District 4, during the initial recruitment. A second application was subsequently received from Philip Ogilvie, District 1, when the submittal date was extended through April. A third application was received from Gurtaj Grewel, District 3, during the extension that ended July 1, 2023. The candidates' applications are included as Attachment B.

Staff has included the same set of interview questions that appeared in the September 12th staff report for the Board's consideration (Attachment C). The Board may decide to conduct new interviews using all or some of the suggested questions, or decide to ask each candidate to summarize their interest in applying for the At-Large position and to describe how their particular strengths will better serve the Commission. Once the interviews have been conducted, staff recommends the Board make a selection to fill the vacant At-Large Planning Commissioner position for a term ending January 31, 2027. Additionally, Staff recommends the Board adopt the procedure proposed in Recommended Action (B) for the future selection of an At-Large Planning Commissioner.

Clerk of the Board
Office of the County Counsel