Pasco: Advisory board members are the key to success

A Times Editorial

Advisory board members are the key to success

Pasco County commissioners talked Tuesday of streamlining government and the common complaint that it takes too long to accomplish anything. In the end, they accomplished little and decided to talk some more.

The government inaction shouldn't be considered a bad thing. Commissioners scheduled a workshop to ponder the roles of three advisory committees that deal with local ordinances and the comprehensive land use plan.

Better defining or even consolidating the roles of the boards would be productive, considering 23 county ordinances are pending. They cover everything from fire hydrants to litter to architectural and aesthetic standards for new development.

The discussion stemmed from a recommendation by the county attorney's office to merge the Land Development Review Commission, required by the state laws overseeing local growth management, and the 2-year-old Citizens Ordinance Review Committee, a board created at the suggestion of local residents.

The legal office's pitch came because of the time-consuming process of drafting a tree-protection ordinance, which bounced between the two committees during a yearlong odyssey. While the lawyers looked to save time, a substantial benefit from the plan is a better-balanced LDRC. Through the years, the developer-friendly panel evolved from simply ensuring local ordinances are consistent with the comprehensive landuse plan to a de facto legislative committee able to tie up or water down ordinances it found disagreeable.

Adding at least four members from the citizens panel -- seven is a better number -- will ensure grass-roots input on proposed ordinances without diminishing the professional expertise offered by the land-use lawyers, builders, developers, planners sitting on the eight-member LDRC.

The hold-up came when commissioners failed to reach consensus on whether the citizens group should be disbanded entirely or remain intact to be called upon as needed. Likewise, commissioners wondered about the role of the just reorganized, 25-member committee overseeing updates to the comprehensive land-use plan.

It opted for the workshop to hash out the appropriate roles of each. It is a sound maneuver. Past commissions have abdicated too much authority to its advisory panels. Planned controls on personal watercraft, for instance, died after objections from a citizen waterways board. And the commission itself could serve as the LDRC. State law does not specify that it be a separate body.

One point of near consensus came on residency requirements for the LDRC. On a 4-1 vote, the commission said board members have to be residents or property owners in Pasco County. Commissioner Pat Mulieri curiously dissented, saying only Pasco residents should be eligible.

Her stance mirrors the litigation-inspired rules governing the Citizens Advisory Committee on the Comprehensive Plan. But it also eliminates her own appointee to the LDRC -- Frank Starkey of Tampa, one of the developers of Longleaf.

The key to any advisory body authorized by the commission is its members. Improved government efficiency is a desirable goal, but the real challenge to commissioners is to appoint people guided by broad interests, not self interests.