The town of Clarkdale will be hosting a Town Boards and Commissions Open House to recruit new volunteers for town commissions on Wednesday, Aug.14, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Clark Memorial Clubhouse at 19 North 9th Street.
“You should join a board if you are passionate about seeing Clarkdale move forward, and make progress in your area of passion or interest or expertise,” Public Information Officer Chell Smart said.
Clarkdale is looking to fill the following positions on public bodies:
* Public Safety Personnel Retirement Board: Two seats
* Design Review Board: Two regular seats and one advisory seat
* Municipal Property Corporation: One seat
* Planning Commission: Two regular seats and one advisory seat
* Parks and Recreation Commission: Three regular seats and one advisory seat
* Historic Preservation Commission: Two regular seats and one advisory seat
“[Advisory seats] get to participate in everything, they just don’t get to vote,” Smart explained “It’s a way of introducing them to all of the processes so that they have a good grasp of how everything works. And then we rotate them into the board as time allows, once an opening becomes available.”
The town is also looking for Clarkdale teens between the ages of 14 and 17 to fill a new youth advisory volunteer position on the Parks and Recreation Commission.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever offered the youth advisory position, we’re still trying to find our candidate for that,” Smart said. “We want someone to help Parks and Rec connect with more of the children in Clarkdale and their needs in our parks and make sure we’re hearing from some of our youth users … We’d love to have someone who’s willing to come and look at the playground equipment.”
Terms for Clarkdale commissions and boards are for two years and run from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. The time commitment for members varies depending on the board and each member’s level of commitment.
“We have members meet once a month at a formal meeting for most of these,” Smart said. “But a couple of these meet quarterly … We send out packet materials that take maybe four hours a month to review. Then when we have members who are really dedicated, they’ll do extra research related to those packet materials that we’re going to talk about at the meeting. So some people spend 10, 20 hours a month, focused on what’s going on with their commission. A lot of it is driven by the member and how much time they decide to put into it, and they feel they need to to get the most out of that experience.”
“Applicants for all boards and commissions must reside within the Clarkdale Town Limits,” town staff stated in a press release. All members other than the youth advisor must be at least 18 years old.
Once applicants are chosen by staff, they are then recommended to the city council, which will approve their appointments.
“Then they go through an orientation process with the staff liaison that oversees the particular board or commission that they have been appointed to,” Town Cleark Charity Brooks said. “So that staff liaison will call them in and brief them on their roles and expectations as a board or commission member on what to expect. Maybe give them an idea of what a meeting might look like, or consist of what type of paperwork or documents they might be receiving to review, what type of decisions that they’ll be making on behalf of the town, or recommendations they will be making to council.”
For more information, visit www.clarkdale.az.gov/BoardsandCommissions or contact Brooks at (928) 639-2400 or charity.brooks@clarkdale.az.gov. Applications are also available at the town administration building at 39 N. Ninth St.
