County Commission begins shakeup of its 'bloated' advisory boards, while adding term limits

The bureaucracy of Brevard County government's 65 advisory boards is coming under increased scrutiny.

And, through a series of unanimous votes this week, county commissioners approved a number of reforms to that system, including eliminating two of those boards, moving to consolidate others and taking a preliminary step to establish term limits.

The consolidation push was spearheaded by County Commissioner John Tobia, who said Brevard is "bloated" with its 65 advisory boards. That compares with 56 in Orange County, 32 in Indian River County and 31 in Volusia County.

Tobia said the moves approved this week are efforts to "improve efficiency, effectiveness and transparency."

Advisory board members are unpaid, although the boards do have operating costs, largely due to county staff time spent in working with the boards.

Additionally, county commissioners have said they have trouble finding candidates to fill vacancies on some of the boards, especially the more obscure ones.

More:Lober proposes term limits for more county advisory boards

More:Brevard tourism chief unveils $7M plan to market Space Coast to attract more visitors

"I understand cutting certain advisory boards may sound harsh, and I'm sure that that's a lot to do with why we have so many," Tobia said. "Trimming the fat of boards that have little or no function does not limit participation. By streamlining and consolidating our advisory boards, we will be making them more efficient because they won't be drowned out in all the white noise."

Tobia also asked county staff to provide commissioners with more details on the cost savings of possible consolidation of various library and parks boards.

But that proposal — if Tobia pursues it — could prove to be more controversial, based on comments Tuesday from other commissioners.

Commission actions

Among the actions the County Commission took on Tuesday are:

• Two boards cut: Eliminating the Brevard Extension Council and the Emergency Medical Services Review Committee.

• Others consolidated: Consolidating three Environmentally Endangered Lands-related advisory boards.

There currently is an EEL Selection and Management Committee, an EEL Recreation and Education Advisory Committee, and an EEL Procedure Committee.

Under the County Commission's direction, the Selection and Management Committee will become the main board, with the Recreation and Education Advisory Committee and the Procedure Committee becoming its subcommittees. One member of each subcommittee also will be added to the main board.

• Term limits pushed: Directing staff to draft resolutions and ordinances that would establish term limits for all advisory boards. The term limits would have a maximum of eight consecutive years on the board and a maximum of 10 years within a 16-year period, except where such term limits would not be allowed by other regulations. The term limits would apply to advisory board members who are appointed by county commissioners.

"It's important that ideas do not become stale, so term limits are one way to prevent this from happening," Tobia said.

In January, county commissioners approved term limits for one of the county's more visible advisory boards, the Brevard County Tourist Development Council. Under the measure, introduced by County Commission Vice Chair Bryan Lober, TDC members could serve no more than two consecutive four-year terms before they would have to sit out for one four-year term.

• Attendance reports required: Requiring quarterly or annual attendance reports of members of all advisory boards to better monitor attendance trends and to more efficiently replace board members who miss too many meetings.

• Standard application forms: Establishing standard application forms for potential board members.

• Online database: Creating an online database detailing all the advisory boards, including board membership, the appointing authority, the terms of offices and the original appointment dates of members.

Tobia said this would help people interested in volunteering for an advisory board in finding out about them and which ones have vacancies.

• Free meeting space: Barred advisory boards from holding meetings at locations that charge the county for meeting space or charge attendees to park their vehicles at the meeting locations.

The Tourist Development Council and its subcommittees spent a total $8,006.17 for hotel meeting space for 14 of their meetings during in 2018.

Tobia said advisory board meetings could be held in government or college buildings.

The county manager would have the authority to waive this policy in individual cases as needed.

Library, parks board debate

There currently are seven local library boards within the county and four local parks boards.

Tobia suggests that the the local boards could be consolidated into the existing Brevard County Library System Board and a proposed Brevard County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board as ways to reduce bureaucracy.

As an alternative, Tobia said, the consolidated boards could have subcommittees to deal with the specific geographic areas covered by local boards he would like to eliminate. He said that would be a system similar to the Brevard County Tourist Development Council, which has five subcommittees dealing with beaches, capital facilities, cultural issues, marketing and sports.

Consolidation library and parks board may be more controversial than the moves approved on Tuesday.

Mims resident Ronald Bartcher told commisioners during public comment that geographically specific library and parks boards are important to retain as a way to provide specific input to the county, because members understand the needs of particular communities.

"This is a traditional approach to encourage citizen participation, and that is what I wholeheartedly support," Bartcher said. "These advisory boards serve a vital role in local government. The boards not only represent a demographic profile of a community, but also provide for a voice of many diverse interests. Democracy can only be realized when individuals come across in neighborhoods and economic lines in making community decisions."

Bartcher said that, as far as library advisory boards go, "to eliminate this essential point of contact with the residents is only going to hurt the performance and effectiveness of the library."

"We've got good government in Brevard," Bartcher said. "Let's not screw it up."

Chris Minerva of Merritt Island said local representation is important, and outweighs the administrative costs of separate boards.

Lober said Bartcher and Minerva raised "solid points" about the benefits of multiple library and parks boards.

Lober said he wanted to hear county staff input on the financial impacts before considering moving forward in consolidating library and parks boards.

Commissioner Curt Smith said the members of the county's library and park boards are loyal to their boards and the communities they represent. 

"I think it would be a mistake for us to be tinkering with either one of those, because I think the people that serve serve proudly, and they're very dedicated," Smith said.

Commissioner Rita Pritchett said she also was reluctant to tinker with the setup for the library and parks boards.

Tobia also wants to see of the county could eliminate its Art in Public Places Advisory Committee, with the Tourist Development Council's Cultural Committee taking on the role of overseeing that program.

Tobia said he thought there were about 15 other advisory boards that were worth eliminating, but he was advised against it because of state statute requirements or other reasons.

Dave Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649

or dberman@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @bydaveberman

Facebook:  /dave.berman.54

.