The Hays City Commission Thursday will consider disbanding several of the volunteer boards that advise the commission.
Mayor Henry Schwaller IV requested the city review its boards at the commission’s work session Thursday at City Hall.
Schwaller explained that city staff spend a lot of time managing the committees, that the committees very often don’t have any pressing matters to handle or discuss, and that it’s hard to find people to volunteer for the boards, many of them created by the city, but sometimes even those required by Kansas law.
“I really appreciate you bringing this up,” said City Commissioner James Meier, who said that during his time as mayor he struggled to find appointees. “It’s very hard to get people to be appointed to these. Even the ones that are state statute.”
The commission will formally decide whether to disband several committees at its regular meeting Thursday.
Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty said last Thursday that there are certain times of the year when the city of Hays staff get valuable input from the Fort Hays Municipal Golf Course Advisory Board. But there’s no need for a standing advisory committee like the one that currently exists, he said. Instead, it would be easy for the city to call special meetings to get feedback about tournament schedules, or priority needs at the golf course, Dougherty said.
“We could easily handle that in a couple meetings that everyone’s invited to participate in,” he said.
Schwaller said the city is lucky to have people that volunteer to serve.
(Read more: News – The Hays Daily News)