Boards, Committees and Commissions

The majority of boards appointed by City Council operate in an advisory capacity to the Council. Most of the boards are made up of between five and seven members with at least one staff liaison and a secretary. Several of these boards also have a Council member sitting on the board as a member.

Advisory boards are standing committees and have specific areas for which they are responsible. Each board reviews, discusses and makes recommendations to Council on a variety of issues associated with its function. The issues reviewed by these boards may deal with City policies, budgets, fees, programs, services, etc. Recommendations from advisory boards are forwarded to the City Council by the staff liaison or Committee Chair.

The City Council has the final decision making responsibility and must carefully weigh board recommendations with citizen, business owner, staff and other interested party comments to arrive at a decision that Council believes is in the overall best interest of the Longmont community.

In addition to advisory boards, the City of Longmont has various quasi-judicial boards:

• The Board of Adjustment and Appeals
• The Master Board of Appeals
• The Liquor Licensing Authority
• The Marijuana Licensing Authority

The Planning & Zoning Commission can also act in a quasi-judicial capacity when it is the decision maker on a development application and when it is the appeal body for decisions of the director (LMC 15.02.030.B.1 & 3).

These boards are given specific powers through State statutes and are created by ordinance. Quasi-judicial boards deal with specific items which, at one time, Council heard and made decisions on at its regular meetings. The ordinances creating these boards delegate Council’s authority to act to the specific boards. Unlike the advisory board recommendations, the decisions made by the quasi-judicial boards are final and can only be appealed to, and overturned by, a court.

Task forces are committees that Council sets up from time to time to focus on a specific item or task. A task force is given direction from Council and serves only until the task for which it was created is accomplished. In the past, Council has created task forces for such items as establishing priorities for Parks and Recreation needs, reviewing potential uses for the Carnegie building, and making recommendations on a solid waste collection program. The size of these committees can vary from a few individuals to many depending on the issue and the scope of the assigned task.

With few exceptions, the meetings of City Council and any of its appointed boards are open to the public. Citizen participation is encouraged and welcomed at these meetings. Council and staff believe that the more involved citizens are in the early stages of program and legislation development, the better local government can meet the needs and expectations of this community.