[Ord. 1750, 4-15-2020]
(A) 
The City Council shall create such commissions as required by state law or as deemed appropriate in the conduct of the city's business. All commissions shall consist of five members unless otherwise provided for in this Code.
(B) 
Commission position availability shall, in accordance with Gov't Code §§ 54970-54975 (the Maddy Act), be advertised in a newspaper of local circulation and/or on the city's website. Any resident interested in serving on a commission shall file an application in the form provided by the city with the City Clerk. The City Clerk shall keep all applications received on file for one year.
[Ord. 1750, 4-15-2020]
(A) 
All members of a commission shall be residents of the City of Indio at the time of their appointment and continuously during their term of office. Membership shall terminate automatically if a member ceases to reside in the city.
(B) 
City employees appointed under the authority of the City Manager are not eligible to serve on a commission.
(C) 
Any commission nominee shall be qualified by experience, training, education and/or knowledge to act on matters before the commission to which he or she is appointed.
[Ord. 1750, 4-15-2020; Ord. 1796, 8-16-2023]
(A) 
Each Council member shall nominate one member to each city commission, which nomination and appointment shall be subject to ratification by a three-fifths vote of all the Council members. Commissioners may be selected from among residents of the city at-large whom have submitted an application with the City Clerk.
(B) 
Council members may use any one or combination of selection methods including but not limited the interview of candidates individually at a location determined by the Council member, or interview of candidates as a group at a location determined by the Council member.
(C) 
A commissioner's term shall mirror the term of the Council member who nominates him or her. Notwithstanding, if the nominating Council member's seat becomes vacant, the commissioner's term shall continue until he or she is replaced by the incoming Council member. There are no limits as to the number of terms a commissioner may serve.
(D) 
A newly elected or re-elected Council member shall appoint, re-appoint or replace his or her commissioners within 60 days of said Council member's swearing in.
(E) 
In the event a newly elected or re-elected Council member fails to appoint, re-appoint or replace a commissioner within 60 days of the Council member's swearing in, the incumbent commissioner shall continue to serve until such time a successor is appointed.
(F) 
A commissioner vacancy occurring during the term of the commissioner's office shall be filled by the respective nominating Council member within ninety (90) days from the date the vacancy occurs in the same manner as the original nomination and appointment. Any person appointed to fill a vacancy shall serve for the remainder of the nominating Council member's term. If the vacancy is not filled within the time prescribed by the respective Council member, the majority of the City Council shall make the appointment.
(G) 
A commissioner may serve on no more than one commission at a time; except Commissioners may also serve on the Mobile Home Fair Practices Commission, if they meet the requirements to serve on that Commission. Commissioners may not serve on the Mobile Home Fair Practices Commission if they are (1) owners, (2) tenants, (3) landlords, (4) operators or (5) managers of a mobile home.
(H) 
The city values the independent advice of those persons appointed to city commissions and recognize that commissioner are independent and their positions on matters before them may not reflect the position of their nominating Council members.
[Ord. 1750, 4-15-2020; Ord. 1796, 8-16-2023]
(A) 
Meetings.
(1) 
Each commission shall establish its own meeting schedule, including date, time and place of meetings. A quorum of the majority of all the members appointed shall be required for the transaction of any business. All meetings of each commission, board or committee shall be held in compliance with the Ralph M. Brown Act (Government Code §§ 54950 et seq.).
(2) 
Commissions shall present annually, either orally or in writing, a report of activities to the City Council.
(3) 
Minutes of commission meetings shall be prepared by staff or a contractor designated as the secretary. Said minutes shall be reviewed and approved as presented or modified by the commission at the earliest opportunity.
(B) 
Stipend.
(1) 
Planning Commissioners shall receive a stipend of $100 per meeting.
(2) 
All other commissioners shall receive a stipend of $50 per meeting.
(3) 
Commissioners may voluntarily waive receipt of the stipend associated with their appointed commission.
(C) 
Advisory function. Except as provided by state law or the city's Municipal Code, commissioners serve as advisory bodies to the City Council and the City Manager. Neither the commission nor their individual members are granted any executive or administrative authority.
(D) 
Administrative assistance. The City Manager shall assign staff to provide administrative support with such matters as the preparation and posting of agendas, the preparation of agenda reports and meeting minutes and the coordination of clerical and technical work of the commission in administering their official functions. Supervision of administrative staff assigned to the commission is the responsibility of the City Manager.
(E) 
Commission committees. A commission may appoint ad hoc subcommittees from its membership from time to time as may be necessary for the conduct of study or research.
(F) 
No spending authority. A commission shall have no authority to expend or authorize the expenditure of any public funds. The City Council shall provide the funds necessary for the operation of each commission.
[Ord. 1750, 4-15-2020]
(A) 
The position of Chair and Vice Chair shall rotate at the commission meeting that follows the following the annual rotation of Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem by the City Council. A Chairperson and a Vice Chairperson shall serve for one year.
(B) 
A rotation progression of the Chair and the Vice Chair position among commissioners shall be established based upon seniority of appointment, as that term is defined in § 32.05(C), to the commission. Notwithstanding the definition of seniority of appointment, for newly appointed commissioners, the order of seniority among those newly appointed commissioners shall be established according to their nominating Council members’ Council District number from lowest to highest. If a commissioner declines to serve as Chairperson, such commissioner shall wait until the other commissioners currently serving at such time are eligible for Chairperson before assuming the Chair, regardless of seniority of appointment. A Commissioner, however, shall not serve as Chairperson or Vice Chairperson until after a full rotation of Chairperson and Vice Chairperson has occurred and in the case of Chairperson, a Commissioner must have previously served as Vice Chairperson.
(C) 
As used in this section, "seniority of appointment" is defined as the length of the commissioner's tenure which begins from the date of their appointment by the City Council as set forth in § 32.03 of the Code regardless of which Council member nominated such commissioner. In the case of an incumbent commissioner that has been held over as described in § 32.03(E), the date of their appointment shall be when that incumbent commission was first appointed. In the event two or more commissioners have equal seniority, the affected commissioners are encouraged to work collaboratively to choose amongst themselves the order of seniority.
(D) 
If the commissioners with equal seniority are unable to determine the order of seniority, the decision regarding seniority shall be determined by lot (i.e., the drawing of straws) in the manner conducted by city staff ("staff") as follows: (1) Staff will gather a number of straws and will ensure that the straws are of varying lengths; (2) The number of straws to be gathered by the staff will equal the number of commissioners that have equal seniority; (3) Staff will then grab all the straws in his or her fist, such that all of them appear to be the same length and offer the clenched fist to the commissioners with equal seniority; (4) Each commissioner with equal seniority shall draw a straw from the fist of staff. The straw the commissioner touches is the straw the commissioner chooses; (5) Once all the straws are chosen, staff will compare the length of the straws and the person with the shortest straw will have the most seniority, followed by the next shortest straw and so forth. This process shall not be used for those commissioners that are newly appointed (i.e., commissioners that have never served on that commission).
[Ord. 1750, 4-15-2020]
(A) 
If any commissioner is absent from three (3) consecutive meetings or absent from more than 33% of meetings in any twelve month period, the commissioner is considered to have resigned from office and unless the City Council takes action pursuant to § 32.06(B) the office of that commissioner will be deemed vacant, and the term of that commissioner is automatically terminated. Notice of the termination of the commissioner's term shall be mailed to the commissioner by the City Clerk ("notice"). The resulting vacancy shall be filled in the manner provided for in § 32.03(F).
(B) 
A commissioner whose attendance record results in resignation may request that his or her commission service be continued by sending a letter to the City Clerk that is received by the city within five days of the date the notice. The City Council shall consider a commissioner's continued service at a regularly scheduled Council meeting to discuss the reasons for such absence. If the City Council, in its sole discretion, finds that the absences were due to health reasons or for other unusual hardship that justifies the absence, the City Council may excuse the absences or the City Council can confirm the automatic vacancy and termination of term of such commissioner. Such action shall be by a majority vote.
[Ord. 1750, 4-15-2020]
(A) 
A commissioner may be removed from office prior to the end of his or her term with or without any reason. Removal may be initiated only by the nominating Council member and must be ratified by a four-fifths vote of the City Council. If the commissioner was appointed by the City Council as provided for in § 32.03(F), then the commissioner may be removed by a majority vote of the entire City Council. In either case, the action to remove the commissioner is final and not subject to review.
(B) 
A commissioner who has been removed from office may not be re-appointed to fill the vacancy created by his or her removal.
(C) 
With the concurrence of a majority of the City Council, at any time a Council member may request that the City Council review the participation and performance of any commissioner for any reason or no reason. If such concurrence is received, the commissioner's review will be placed on a subsequent City Council agenda.
[Ord. 1750, 4-15-2020]
Unless otherwise specifically provided in this Code, membership on a commission shall automatically terminate upon the resignation or death of a commissioner or if the commissioner ceases to reside in the city.