City of Olympia faces 26 vacancies across advisory boards; application process to open in October

In October, Olympia will open the recruiting process to fill 26 vacancies in the city's ten advisory boards and committees for 2025.

At the Community Livability and Public Safety Committee meeting on Wednesday, Kellie Braseth, Strategic Communications director, provided an overview of the current status of vacancies and expiring terms across the various committees:

• Arts Commission – two members are expiring terms in 2025.
• Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee – two members are expiring terms without seeking reappointments.
• Cultural Access – one member is expiring term without seeking reappointment.
• Design Review – three members are expiring terms.
• Heritage Commission – one member is expiring term; one vacant position.
• Lodging Tax Advisory Committee – one vacant position.
• Olympia Metropolitan Arts District – one vacant position; one member is expiring term.
• Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee – two members are expiring terms without seeking reappointments.
• Planning Commission – two members are expiring terms; one vacant position.
• Social Justice and Equity Commission – three members are expiring terms.
• Utility Advisory – three members are expiring terms – one is not seeking reappointment; one is a vacant position.
• Use of Force Board – two vacant positions.

According to Braseth, the application period opens on October 1 and closes on December 13.

Recruitment issues

Heritage Commission

In March this year, the CLPS considered reducing the Heritage Commission's membership from 11 to nine members to facilitate meeting the quorum.

Since the ordinance specifies the number of commission memberships, Braseth said she consulted with legal counsel to determine the best path forward. She found that the Heritage Commission ordinance allows for a membership of "up to 11" members rather than a fixed number.

The Communications director presented the committee with two options: amend the ordinance to set the Heritage Commissioner membership at nine members or leave the ordinance language as is, allowing the membership to range from nine to 11.

Both Committee members, Mayor Dontae Payne and Clark Gilman, preferred to leave the ordinance as is to maintain flexibility for the commission.

The committee agreed to leave the Heritage Commission ordinance unchanged.

Use of Force Board

The advisory board currently has six members. Braseth said there is a plan to expand it to seven members and broaden its role.

Braseth said the board's mission would be to work with the news police auditor in cases of deadly police use of force.

Braseth mentioned that in anticipation of this transition, the committee had previously decided to leave two Use of Force Board seats open so there would be space for the expanded seven-member structure.

However, Braseth noted that the current six-member board is down to only four active members, which she said is concerning. She expressed worry that the reduced membership could impact the board's capacity to fulfill its duties should there be a deadly force incident.

Braseth said the transition to the expanded seven-member board will require a change to the ordinance and a new recruitment process for the three spots – the two vacancies and additional spots to create a seven-member body.