As the Friends of Rosa Parks Square Board nears the final stretch of renovating the park, there is a quorum of new members.
During its Feb. 18 meeting, the Macon-Bibb County Commission approved seven new members to replace those whose terms expired on the 12-member board.
Unlike his predecessors, Mayor Lester Miller now has an updated spreadsheet that tracks the length of the terms of those serving on county-related boards, agencies and commissions.
The spreadsheet counts down how many days until they have to be reappointed or replaced, and whether they are even eligible for reappointment.
The line for each individual has highlights of red, green and yellow to easily pinpoint who needs to be replaced and when.
“A lot of times if we have someone that’s already serving on that board and they’re doing a good job, we may refer them for one or two times,” Miller said during taping of February’s Ask Mayor Miller program. “We want to have stability there with experience, but at the same time, we don’t want the same people doing the same things year after year after year. So we’ve been trying to mix it up a lot, but sometimes when it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it.”
Board appointments frequently come before commissioners because the mayor has the authority to appoint members to nearly four dozen entities.
Nearly five years ago, The Macon Newsroom examined the process for those appointments under then-mayor Robert Reichert, who relied on his knowledge of the community and recommendations from commissioners to select people for each opening.
At the time, Macon-Bibb County Clerk of the Commission Janice Ross had an outdated static spreadsheet and a binder of by-laws and other information about many of those boards and authorities.
In recent years, Ross created the tracking spreadsheet to better manage filling vacancies, a process that had been woefully neglected for many months, or years, in some cases.
Ross also implemented a new CivicClerk software program that is an online depository of county documents, resolutions, agendas, board minutes and other information for the county commission and all of its advisory boards, such as the Friends of Rosa Parks Square and the Pedestrian Safety Review Board.
CivicClerk does not track all of the organizations with county appointments as some are private entities that receive some tax dollars, such as Visit Macon which controls disbursement of the hotel-motel tax.
That’s where Ross’ spreadsheet comes into play to keep up with all the organizations and their differing rules and regulations for board members.
“Most of them do an excellent job of keeping us notified if they have a vacancy,” Ross said.
Once candidates are identified, Ross requests a resume, headshot, certificate of good standing for tax payments and a complete background check. If they check out, the legal work begins in drawing up the resolution for the vote.
How to get on a board
When Lester Miller took office in 2021, he drew on his transition team of dozens of members to fill positions and appointments.
Like Reichert, he uses his personal knowledge of the community and also takes recommendations.
“Number one, I usually send something to the commissioners, saying these board appointments are coming up. ‘Do you have anybody you’d like to recommend to give commissioners an opportunity to put forth some names for consideration?’” Miller said.
He looks to Leadership Macon, the Chamber of Commerce and Bibb County School System to identify potential board members.
For those interested in serving on these community boards and authorities, Miller recommends contacting the commissioner in their district for suggestions on where to serve.
Recently during the public comment portion of a county commission meeting, a woman spoke out about the condition of the city recycling and convenience centers.
Miller suggested she volunteer for Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful and she was at the organization’s next meeting.
“You’re either going to be part of the problem or part of the solution, so sometimes I offer them a seat at the table,” he said.
He’s found some very valuable people by offering them an opportunity to serve in position they’re passionate about.
“If you’re willing to serve, let me know what your interests are. We’ll be happy to plug in somewhere,” Miller said. “Everybody can have a seat at the table.”
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom and can be reached at fabian_lj@mercer.edu or 478-301-2976.
