This Board's For You

We have close to 90 citizen boards and commissions in Kansas City. Just check out the City Clerk's page for a list. Chances are you have some experience or expertise that will apply to at least one of these groups. Have you ever been asked to serve on one? Probably not! That is a problem. Just like the City Council, the boards and commissions are populated from the same old group of people. Like the old saying goes, "Same circus, different clowns." In a lot of cases I think it's actually "Same circus, same clowns!" Some boards are highly prized like PIAC, Planning, or PIEA. They are considered springboards to a successful City Council run. I have served on two of these commissions myself. Purely by accident. The first, the Competitive Review Committee was a group put together to review business models for City departments like Street Maintenance and Parks & Rec. I ended up filling a vacancy at the request of the chairman who was a friend of mine because rather than find someone who had supported the mayor in the last election he decided that my having recently completed an MBA and having written a couple of business plans might actually make me qualified to serve. The second commission on which I currently serve is the 311 Action Center oversight committee. Once again, I wasn't brought in because I'm a powerful insider, I was requested by some of the City staffers with whom I worked while on the previous commission. It shouldn't be that hard to volunteer your time to help your community. You shouldn't have to have a councilman on speed dial. I think there is a tremendous amount of collective knowledge in this City and there's plenty of people willing to share, if only they were asked. I think there should be a link on the front of kcmo.org that takes you straight to the listing of boards and commissions and list the openings. Anybody should be allowed to express interest in serving. The whole process should be transparent and once appointed, every commission member should have a web page bio so we can all know more about the people making recommendations that affect our City. Instead of making these groups rewards for loyal political supporters, lets make them opportunities for new ideas.