A proposal submitted to the Grants Pass City Council would establish a two-year limit on consecutive service as chair of the city’s boards, committees, commissions and task forces, creating a uniform leadership policy across municipal advisory bodies while leaving the terms of their individual members unchanged.
Josephine County resident Toni Webb is asking councilors to direct city staff to prepare an ordinance allowing a member to serve no more than two consecutive one-year terms as chair of the same advisory body. Once those two terms are completed, the member would remain eligible to serve on the body but would have to wait two years before again becoming eligible for its chairmanship.
The proposal is confined to leadership positions. It would not impose term limits on committee or commission members, alter the composition or size of an advisory body, shorten an appointment or displace anyone currently serving. Webb is also proposing that the ordinance operate prospectively, with chair service occurring before its effective date excluded from the calculation.
The request would establish a common standard across a wide range of municipal advisory bodies whose responsibilities extend into transportation, budgeting, public art, historic preservation, parks, public safety, tourism, planning and urban forestry. Webb’s memorandum identifies the Bikeways and Walkways Committee, Budget Committee, Committee on Public Art, Historical Buildings and Sites Commission, Parks Advisory Committee, Public Safety Advisory Committee, Solid Waste Agency, Tourism Advisory Committee, Urban Area Planning Commission and Urban Tree Advisory Committee, along with city task forces.
While those bodies perform different functions, the proposed ordinance would apply the same leadership restriction to each: two consecutive one-year terms as chair, followed by two years outside the chairmanship before that member could again hold the position on the same body.
Webb’s memorandum bases the request on the responsibilities entrusted to advisory-body chairs. Conducting meetings involves managing agendas, maintaining orderly discussion, recognizing members, navigating disagreement and moving proceedings toward decisions or recommendations. Her proposal would periodically place those responsibilities with different members while allowing experienced former chairs to continue participating in the work of the body.
The two-year limit is intended to provide continuity without allowing the chairmanship to remain indefinitely with one individual. Webb’s memorandum describes the first year as an opportunity to develop proficiency in conducting public meetings, with a second consecutive year providing time to carry ongoing work forward. The required two-year interval would then transfer those responsibilities to another member before a former chair could become eligible again.
The proposal also addresses succession within the city’s volunteer advisory structure. Webb maintains that rotating leadership would give vice chairs and other members opportunities to acquire practical experience conducting public meetings, overseeing discussion and presenting the work of an advisory body to the City Council. Members who later move into other boards, commissions or public-service positions would do so with direct experience in municipal proceedings.
Webb is asking the Council to establish the restriction through an ordinance rather than a City Charter amendment. Her memorandum cites Chapter III of the Grants Pass City Charter and the Council’s authority involving boards and commissions as the basis for adopting a uniform rule without referring a charter change to voters.
Terms and operating provisions for Grants Pass advisory bodies are established individually through their respective ordinances and resolutions. Webb’s memorandum identifies the absence of a general citywide standard governing the duration of consecutive chair service as the issue her proposed ordinance would address.
The recommendation would not replace those individual provisions governing membership. Instead, it would overlay a single rule governing consecutive service in the chair position while preserving existing appointment structures for the people serving on those bodies.
Webb also supplied examples from other Oregon municipalities. Lake Oswego’s municipal code limits a member to two consecutive one-year terms as chair or co-chair under its uniform provisions for advisory boards, committees and commissions. Ashland’s policies governing advisory committees and commissions restrict consecutive annual terms for chairs and vice chairs. The memorandum also cites the League of Oregon Cities Municipal Handbook and its discussion of annual chair elections and restrictions on terms of service.
Under Webb’s proposed language, a member elected chair could serve a second consecutive one-year term before relinquishing the position. That person could remain fully involved as a member during the following two years and could subsequently become eligible to serve as chair again. No service completed before the ordinance became effective would count toward the limit.
The memorandum is a request for Council action and does not alter existing city policy. Councilors would first have to decide whether to direct staff to prepare an ordinance. Any resulting legislation would then proceed through the city’s ordinance process before a uniform chair limit could become part of Grants Pass municipal policy.
If the Council ultimately adopts the framework Webb submitted, the tenure of committee and commission members would remain governed by their existing provisions. The change would apply specifically to who may occupy the chair and for how many consecutive years that person may hold the position.