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First published in the April 15 print issue of the South Pasadena Review.
The city of South Pasadena has streamlined some of its operations, as the City Council voted to consolidate the number of commissions, ad hoc committees and subcommittees.
“[We’ve] already begun work, which includes creating more onboarding training efforts for appointed commissioners as well as staff liaisons,” Domenica Megerdichian, the deputy city manager, said at last week’s council meeting.
Changes that the council approved at the April 6 meeting included consolidating the Youth, Senior Citizen and Park and Recreation Commissions’ scopes of work, to form a Community Services Commission; dissolving the Animal Commission; and changing the frequency of Public Arts Commission meetings.
The Finance Ad Hoc Committee and the Economic Development Ad Hoc Committee have been dissolved. The council is also considering adding an engineering staff position to further support the Mobility and Transportation Infrastructure Commission in the Public Works Department.
Although the Animal Commission has been dissolved, its purpose will still be served. Staff and City Manager Arminé Chaparyan have been in touch with community members who would like to be involved in animal matters, such as concerns over coyotes, and serve in a consultant-like role.
“Dom [Megerdichian] and I have had an opportunity to meet residents who have expressed interest in these issues,” Chaparyan said. “We already have a good sense of who they are. It would be great for me to reach out to them and have them come in and be a part of that discussion on issues that are important and related to animals.”
The council also discussed the frequency of Public Safety Commission meetings. The commission, which works to improve emergency response capabilities, will have 10 meetings annually.
“Rather than creating a mandatory number of meetings, our approach was to simply create a minimum and the ability to meet as needed above that. It wasn’t an effort to limit the number of meetings, but rather to help manage workflows as the liaisons and as the commissions needed to meet,” Megerdichian said.
The council previously met for a Commission Study Session in late February, where it heard community feedback collected by staff and provided direction to staff for commission changes that would help lighten the workload for city staff.
Staff collected additional community feedback in the form of an online survey hosted on the city’s website from March 16 to March 21, which received 18 responses from community stakeholders. The majority of them supported the proposed commission changes.
Prior to the consolidation, dissolving and other changes, South Pasadena had 14 commissions, 10 ad hoc committees and two subcommittees. Cities similar in size to South Pasadena have six or seven commissions.
