Advisory Board Appointment Process

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions; names and numbers may be misheard.

• What: council changed how resident advisory board members are appointed (mayor recommends on a 30-day clock; council may appoint another qualified applicant) and used ballots for the first time.
• Where it stands: Unified Development Ordinance and town code amendments approved Oct 13; four seats filled; one Environmental Advisory Board vacancy waits for the December batch of eight.
• Next: appointment cycle repeats about 30 days before terms end; adopted council rules and the ordinance still need to be reconciled; possible Planning Board expansion.

The change

• Mayor's recommendation due at least 30 days before a term ends (30 days after notice of an unscheduled vacancy); council may decline it and appoint another qualified applicant, or appoint without a recommendation if none arrives.
• The Planning Board (Oct 12, 2026-10-12 - Planning Board Meeting) had recommended 8-1 adding one more 30-day window for the mayor after a rejection; council rejected that and passed the original language unanimously.
• Planning Board and Board of Adjustment are in the Unified Development Ordinance; the other four boards are in the town code (matching amendment passed).

Debate

• Supporters: expired terms have been left unfilled for months; the aim is a calendar, not removing the mayor's role; state law gives appointment power to council.
• Mayor: stalls have been rare; wanted appointments made and said he could not speak to past mayors.
• A resident called it a power play that should go to voters.

Appointments made Oct 13 (ballot)

• Culture and Arts Advisory Board: Aaron Scholes (5-0).
• Multimodal Transportation Advisory Board: Christopher Shaye (5-0).
• Parks and Recreation (senior position): Adriana Stano (5-0).
• Planning Board: Tianduo Zang (3-2) over Kyone Neville. Spellings approximate.

Discussion time

About 72 minutes across 2 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Log

• 2026-10-12 - Planning Board Meeting — Planning Board heard the mayor and an engineer in public comment, then recommended (not unanimous) giving the mayor one more 30-day window after a rejected nominee; Alan Coleman explained the process.
• 2026-10-13 - Town Council Meeting — Public hearing and approval of the amendments; first ballot appointments to four boards; Environmental Advisory Board resignation noted.
• 2026-09-22 - Town Council Meeting — Second round of ballot appointments to five boards; some recommendations approved (including Christie Famolare) and some failed; the resident advisory board UDO public hearing was continued to October 13.
• 2026-09-17 - Environmental Advisory Board — Mayor Pro Tem said council hopes to finish appointments at its next meeting; the board has vacancies.
• 2026-09-15 - Town Council Work Session — with the mayor making no recommendations, council discussed stalled appointments and changing the draft ordinance so the mayor "may" recommend; Planning Board candidate interviews set for September 22.
• 2026-09-14 - Planning Board Meeting — Staff presented the amendment; a motion to approve with two sentences struck failed for lack of a second, and the board postponed to October 12.
• 2026-08-18 - Town Council Work Session - With no mayoral recommendations for the June appointments, council directed staff to draft code and UDO amendments requiring recommendations at least 30 days before terms expire, to be heard with the August 25 appointments (from auto-captions).
• 2026-08-13 - Quarterly Town Council Work Session - Council voted to correct its August 11 culture and arts advisory board action by rescinding the vice chair designation and appointing a different vice chair (from auto-captions).

From the video (October 27, 2026)

The clerk said packets go out this week; two Board of Adjustment and seven Environmental Advisory Board positions need action before year end. See 2026-10-27 - Town Council Meeting.