Welcome.

I'm Coach Felix Gardner, joined by co-chair Stephen Shaw, and very well welcome to the first meeting of the 32nd Board of Representatives Appointments Committee.

It is Thursday, December 18th, 2025 at 6.31 p.m.

And I call this meeting to order.

Okay.

Angie, could you help us with the roll call if possible?

Sure.

Um Phil Bradford.

I don't see him.

I think he's excused, I think.

Yeah.

Karen Camparelli.

Present, and just as a reminder, I'll only be present for the first half an hour of the meeting.

Okay.

Felix Gardner.

Present.

Went and Hill.

Reverend and I don't see him.

No.

Bobby Pavia.

Present.

Laurie Hyatt.

Present.

Stephen Shore.

Present.

Candace Weathers.

President.

Carl Weinberg.

President.

Okay.

And you have there's other members of the board on uh Kendria Waston.

And I believe that's all.

Thank you, Angie.

So I believe we have a quorum.

We can get started.

So I think we only have one item on our agenda this evening.

And uh that is item Alpha 32, period 001, which is an overview of the board's and commission's appointment process.

And that's going to be presented to us by uh Madam Bridget Fox from the Mayor's Office.

So the floor is yours, Ms.

Fox.

Thank you.

Thank you, Representative Gardner, and thank you all.

I am really excited to be here tonight and very much look forward to working with all of you on this appointments process.

I am joined by my colleague Paula Russell, who is the director of human resources for the city.

And after I share my remarks, she's just going to give a very brief presentation on best practices for interview interviewing.

So we're really happy to be here and just wanted to take this opportunity to provide a brief overview of the process and then open it up to question and answers that anyone might have.

So I think Stanford is the best city because we have so many opportunities for residents to serve on in volunteer capacities on a ton of boards and commissions.

Currently we have 31 active boards and commissions with over 175 positions available for residents to sit in.

Each commission has its own set of rules and composition requirements, all of which are detailed in the board packet that I shared through Angie today.

So that packet provides it looks just like this, and it provides an overview and description of each board and commission and all of the uh rules that go along with each one of those boards and commissions.

So I'm gonna take an opportunity to provide an overview of the process of how a resident gets to sit on one of these boards and commissions.

So first and foremost, it's about awareness.

So people hear about boards and commissions in a number of ways.

The mayor's office shares weekly in our newsletter and on our website, and through public publicizing opportunities at community events, the open opportunity for residents to serve.

So we always offer the opportunity for residents to go online to our uh webpage and take a look at all the positions.

We have put an emphasis on recruiting new people to serve on boards and commissions over the past four years, and we've done a decent job of increasing, for example, the number of women who are serving on board.

So currently we have 32 percent of all of our boards and commissions are um we have women's seated seated in those positions, which is an increase over previous years.

So the only requirement to serve on a board or commission is being a resident elector of the city of Stanford.

So that has come up in the previous board, but we did get clarity.

So in order to uh apply to be a member of a board, you have to be a resident of Stanford.

If a resident is interested in serving, they complete an application that is found online.

The application, which um, if you haven't had a chance to take a look at it, it's it's in the link that was shared, and it has very basic demographic questions, um, as well as an opportunity for the resident to upload his or her resume and complete a conflict of interest form, all of which is now done online, making the process much easier for I think the board office and our team as well.

So once the application is completed, it is received by the mayor's office, and the team of people on the mayor's office, it's my colleague Rachel Alonza Mendoza and myself who oversee the appointments process, and we review those applications on a weekly basis who has applied, and we reach out to candidates according to the needs of each board that they are asking to apply for.

So this is where the the process gets a little interesting.

So if the candidate is a registered Republican, we share their application with the town committee, the Republican town committee.

That that is the same process we use for the if someone is a registered democrat, we share their application with the Democratic City Committee.

Then they take the reins on reaching out and interviewing the candidate for the position.

So it first starts at the town committee level.

If the person is an unregistered, not affiliated with either party, then they stick with the mayor's office in terms of their interview process.

They don't take that extra step of meeting with their town committees.

After the DCC or the RTC interviews the candidate and shares their favorable recommendation with the mayor's office, we then interview the candidate.

So what that looks like, it'll be Rachel and I who interview the candidate have you know a number of questions of a usually and always a very good conversation about their interest in serving, how they heard about the position, what skills and experience they may bring to the role, a very basic overview.

And then we bring that candidate to the mayor for an interview.

So that person would then meet with the mayor, and based on that conversation and interview, we then refer the candidate to the board of reps and your committee.

So by the time a candidate comes in front of you at this committee, they have interviewed several times and have had the opportunity to speak with a member of the board on which they will likely serve, and they have been encouraged to watch a number of videos and read all of the agendas from the previous six months to a year and minutes, just so they have a sense of the current issues in front of the candidates.

And I'll I'll just share another couple two more pieces of information.

I have found in this experience that in many cases it's the first time a resident has had interface with local government.

So it is an overwhelming experience at times, and people are um they're wonderful and understand the process once they go through it.

But initially there is a level of um there can be overwhelmed at how many steps to the process it involves to serve on a border commission.

So when they come to you, they are in a place we hope that they are well, they feel well prepared to answer the questions that this committee asks of them, but it it has taken several steps to get there, which I think in the end is is an excellent process to follow.

And lastly, I'll just say that the way we have now conducted um the process on our team, we now have developed a cadence where we have been sending to the board the appointments committee anywhere between five and 10 members in a given month.

That is intended to bring the number of expired terms up to speed and filling vacancies across the process.

So that concludes my piece of the presentation, but happy to take any questions that the board may have.

Thank you so much, Ms.

Fox.

Very much appreciated.

Yes, call.

I'm sorry, representative wine book.

You may go first.

Thank you, co-chair Gardner.

Um a question for uh for chief of staff box.

Since we're using we're being formal here.

Um what can uh what can each of us as as a representative, what can what can we be doing?

What what do you advise us to be doing to help to fill the pipeline?

Yeah, that's a great point.

I would say at any community event that you attend in your capacity as an elected representative, you make a point of mentioning boards and commissions and share very briefly the process of applying and to well, you know, encourage people to reach out to the mayor's office.

I would also share that if you have a newsletter of any kind or any written communications that go out to constituents that you include the link to our website to encourage people that way.

Thank you.

If I can make one other suggestion, of course.

Um so in in my experience, the uh you know, while it's great meeting people at community events and so forth in uh in in my district, um, I find the most um you know interesting and sort of uh opportunities to get to know people um are when I'm working with them on a particular uh constituent service issue.

Um and I make you know I I use that as an opportunity just to learn more about them to try to establish a relationship, find out what they do professionally, what their interests are, uh vocationally, um and that that's also when I sort of pitch have you consider um based on their um uh their professional experiences, their their avocational interests.

I might even suggest uh a few um uh commissions or volunteer commissions or boards that um that they might be um well suited for.

And in my experience, that's been the richest source, at least in um in District 20.

Uh so I pass that along as advice from a semi-grizzled veteran.

And I'll yield.

Thank you, Representative Lemberg.

Representative Weathers.

Yes, um, I'm inquiring about do we have a possible list of vacancies so that maybe we can plan ahead for the upcoming year for 2026?

Do you know what positions are becoming open soon?

Yes.

So if you visit the website, you can easily access that according to each board.

So it's a challenge for us to keep a comprehensive list just given how many commissions, how many people and and on and off are coming on and off due to family situations, people move, etc.

But if you check the website per board, you will see all of the each board and commission.

And then there is also a comprehensive list on the website as well as an attachment.

But for example, if you were to go into uh I'll just use an example here, the zoning board of appeals, you'll see it it leads you to a website that shows you the number of people sitting in terms if in fact their term is expired and any vacancies that exist.

Okay, so that's up to us to go and do this research.

There's just no compiled list from the mayor's office.

I can share with this committee everything we have, but as I said, it it can be a challenge to have this up-to-date list, but I'm more than happy to direct you to what we have online, which we update on a regular basis.

And that that does include a huge Excel spreadsheet.

Okay, all right, thank you.

You're welcome.

Representative Pavia.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, first of all, I want to apologize.

I was redoing my office.

I really don't like this view of me right now.

Um you guys all look better than me, and this is terrible for me.

Ums Fox, I I um you you had mentioned uh what you do with the Republican Party, and just because the independent party has come into play, especially in this last election.

What is the process for the independent party, not the unaffiliated party?

Do you have that?

That's a great question.

We do not at the moment use that same process.

Okay.

Okay.

Also, just to dispel G Fox, like the problems that this committee has brought up last term, and just to be done with this elephant in the room.

These expired terms, right?

Is it the intention of the mayor's office?

This is not a trick question.

No.

Is it the um intentions of the mayor's office to actually fill them?

Yes.

So in the coming months, you'll be uh we already have nine candidates lined up for January as one example.

Cool.

So yes, you will be seeing uh you'll you'll all have a full slate over the next several months.

Okay.

Great.

Sorry about that in advance.

No, and uh final question, G Fox.

This is the most important one.

Um, do you have a light in front of you right now?

I do.

I do as a matter of fact.

I do thank you very much.

Um that's all of the questions I had.

Thank you.

Thank you, Representative.

Representative.

Yeah, thank you.

Just following up on representative weather's uh comments, uh the place to find the information is um is on uh you stand for ct.gov uh on the home page, click on government.

Uh there's a button for government, and that uh and from there click on uh boards and commissions.

Um and then you'll find uh uh each you'll then be able to navigate to a page for each individual board or commission, which will have all the information about uh the term situation.

Um but I can say, having looked at this many these these charts many, many times, that almost every um many, many of the volunteer ports and commissions have e have either a vacancy or a member with an expired term, either currently expired or will be expired in the next year.

Um so if you've got a you know an individual in your district who has an interest for a particular board or commission, um, I I strongly encourage you to you know to uh to uh have them fill out an application because chances are a uh an open seat will on it on their uh interested board or commission will be showing up pretty soon.

Thank you.

Thank you, Representative Landberg.

I had a quick question for you, Ms.

Fox.

Um, is there a maximum number of appointment submissions that mayor's office will make to all to our uh committee per month, I imagine.

That's a great question.

And what you and I and um representative shore can get in the habit of doing is just touching base at the beginning of the month to ensure that what that we're all on the same page with who we're putting forward to you.

So I'm happy to do that to touch base, but we find um that certain boards and commissions, the interviews take longer than certain boards and commissions, and the reason we had so much luck, I think it last last year at one point we had 15 boards and commissions that were fully up to date.

So every single member was in a seat that was not expired.

We we were really making a lot of progress, um, which is fantastic, and we're gonna try to do the same this coming term to just continue to plow through and and keep these uh positions totally up to date.

I will share that again.

So if it's a commission that is um not necessarily as I'll say the word controversial, then we can easily get through nine people in in a night.

Um, but if we we're cognizant of being aware of how long interviews might go.

So for both the residents and for you all, we want to make sure that it's an experience that is um one that is a positive experience.

Excellent.

Thank you for your understanding, Ms.

Folks.

I'm sure we will work diligently to get through the list.

And I'd love to just have um, if there are no further questions, my colleague Paula could just provide an overview from her vantage point in as the director of HR for interviewing.

Of course.

Go ahead, Ms.

Good evening.

Um, it's a pleasure to be here.

So the interview guidance that we prepare normally for our department heads when they are in the interview process.

But the reason why we do have we we strongly um advise our departments to please avoid ranking is because if you start assigning a numbers to people, what happens is um it kind of correlates to number three.

If you take notes and you assign, I put this person as pref I prefer them as number one, and then you hit them with another person as number two and then three.

What happens is in your notes, you have one, two, and three.

Someone can come back and say, okay, I want to foil the interview notes.

Why did you put me as two?

Why did you put me as three?

And then it becomes a little bit subjective as opposed to objective, and then we get into discussion as to um having to explain our personal impressions as opposed to objective um impressions.

So that's why we kind of lead off with number one, please avoid ranking candidates against each other.

Instead, we ask that you please just um evaluate the candidate using same job-related qualifications and competencies.

This definitely helps reduce subjectivity.

It supports fair decision making.

Um if you feel compelled to use any form of ranking, um, please use um, make sure that it's clear, it's measurable, and it can be um hopefully be defensible criteria if it does happen to be foiled or um when I say foiled, meaning um the freedom of information act when people ask for um information and interview notes, that sort of thing.

Um the second best practice is uh develop and use defensible interview questions.

So we normally advise departments to please um standardize your interview questions and make sure that the interview questions are directly tied to the essential duties and the competencies of their positions.

Um and we also advise that the interviewers please take factual and objective notes based on the candidates' responses.

Once again, please do not take notes that um relate to maybe your personal impressions of the candidate.

Make sure that it ties directly to the duties or the competencies of the position.

Third, we definitely remind those that are doing the interview when you are taking the notes that interview notes may be subject to FOIA, which is Freedom of Information Act.

So for that reason, notes are or should be limited to job-related information, should exclude personal impressions or commentary unrelated to the candidate's ability to perform the role.

And the final um guideline that we have is when you are establishing um the interview process, it's good to have like a clear structured interview format for all parties involved.

So it's good to have like a structured interview process.

So the interview committee is clear on the format, the space, who's going to ask what questions.

If there are 10 questions in general, um, maybe perhaps, and there's five interviewers, maybe just assign two per person.

And those are the set questions that each person will have to give to the candidate.

Um, just to kind of make it more structured.

That's that way it kind of ensures a more fair process.

It's organized, um, and it just kind of clears the space for a clear, structured objective um process that kind of ensures that it will definitely be um fair, transparent, and a smooth um interview process.

So that's basically all in a nutshell.

If anyone has any questions about that.

Thank you, Ms.

Russell.

I think Miss Uh Representative Pavio was first.

Thank you, Chair.

I I just want to follow up on what Dr.

Russell said.

I just been through a process where um I was asked to be on a committee to select an assistant principal for a school.

And like Dr.

Russell said, uh, there was like very rigid like rules like or suggestions, like she was um what she was talking about.

And I found it to be a very like good process.

Um with keeping it, and and I what I'm getting at this is Jared, that um you'd like me to send you this list of like like uh what they told us to be aware of, including personal biases, right?

And giving you examples of that, you know, um because we all have them, you know, and it's and also like if the person that just interviewed does good, we don't want to like discount the next person, like that's all the things I'm talking about.

Russell like you you do a lot of definitely these are all definitely real things that were actually very helpful for me so uh chair if you want um a copy of that just helpful if anybody on the committee wants that I found it very helpful for um that process that I just went through and that's all and Dr.

Russell has the best background the fireplace theme thank you thank you representative and apologies Dr.

Russell for not using your quick title oh no it's totally fine it's fine uh coach sure perhaps coach is having some technical trouble I will come back to you Coach how about co-chair uh representative weather thank you um this is for um Dr.

Russell do you have any templates that you could maybe share with our coming that you think would be useful for the interviewing process um templates in regards to like um interview questions or like how to prepare correct anything anything that you think would be useful that you can you know email and share with our chairpers definitely we can send something over sure thank you thank you representative weathers coming back to coach shore can you hear us yeah uh yeah I have to apologize I'm having some technical issues um I'm not lurking my camera just cuts out by itself uh uh Dr.

Russell a question for you is there is there a guide that we can go to is there something we can read just uh in terms of organizing these interviews sure I mean off the top of my head we I know we have some internal ones to be more specific to your particular um setup I would want to make it more customized for you all so I'll see what we have internally and just make it more customized so that it can suit your purposes um and I can I can get that over to you like within the next two days or so great much just so we have to recreate the wheel yeah thank you very much you're welcome thank you Dr.

Russell Fox any more questions for our esteemed guests okay I think that concludes our meeting I propose a motion to adjourn all in favor say aye second second first yes aye I the time is 6 49 p.m and I call the meeting at the appointments committee to be closed thank you all for attending thank you happy thank you happy holidays everybody thank you same to you yes happy holidays