By CHARLES RICHARDS
eParisExtra.com
Anyone interested in serving on either of two boards of the City of Paris – the seven-member Buildings and Standards Commission and the Civil Service Commission – is encouraged to apply right away.
There’s an opening on each board because of the Nov. 26, 2012, resignation of Ryan Lassiter from the Buildings & Standards Commission and the end of Sims Norment’s second 3-year term on the Civil Service Commission.
Mayor AJ Hashmi
By a motion from Mayor AJ Hashmi, second by District 2 councilwoman Sue Lancaster, and 6-0 vote of the council (District 5 councilman Matt Frierson was absent), the council decided against appointing the only two applications on file for those positions.
City manager John Godwin had recommended that the council name Randy Roam to fill Lassiter’s unexpired term on the Buildings and Standards Commission and Russell Figgins to a full 3-year term on the Civil Service Commission.
They were the only ones with applications on file with the city for openings on those two boards, and the manager recommended speedy approval, particulrly on the three-member Civil Service Commission.
“Nothing against these two applicants — they may well be the two who will get these positions, but I don’t think there has been adequate time for others to indicate their interest,” the mayor said.
Openings on board positions are generally filled each June, after the city elections, from a list of applications submitted at the City Hall Annex (Kaufman and 1st Street Southeast) or by going to the city website (www.paristexas.gov) and downloading an application.
Most city boards have seven members, with staggered 3-year terms.
The city’s police and fire department operated under a civil service system, which requires a three-member Civil Service Commission.
Hashmi asked that the Buildings & Standards and Civil Service openings be placed back on the council’s agenda for Jan. 28 for a decision by the council.
In a move to streamline council meetings, the city manager has begun to put more items on the “consent agenda,” where all items are voted on with a single motion, second and vote – unless a council member requests that a specific item on the consent agenda be separated out.
The mayor requested Monday night that the city manager not put appointments to city boards on the consent agenda — to allow council members more openness and more say-so by the council in the selections.
Charles Richards Charles Richards moved to Paris in 2004 after retiring from a 40-year career in journalism – the last 26 years as a news writer and sports writer with The Associated Press in Dallas and Washington, D.C. In mid-2004, The Paris News coaxed him out of retirement, and he began covering the police, court and regional beat for The Paris News. Then in early 2005, he was switched to coverage of a sharply divided Paris City Council. He was appointed by the City Council in 2006 to the 12-member City Charter Review Commission, which extensively rewrote the outmoded document. His writing awards include two first-place awards in statewide competition for feature writing. The most recent was his 2005 story on a Paris doctor’s startling use of leeches in a successful attempt to re-attach a man’s severed ear. Over his career, Richards’ interview subjects include Alabama Gov. George Wallace, President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, David Koresh, Arnold Palmer, Muhammad Ali and numerous other political and sports figures. He is an alumnus of Texas Tech, where he was editor of the school newspaper. He lives in Paris with his wife, Barbara, who is retired after 30 years as a teacher and high school counselor.
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