Monday, July 18, 2016

Youth Commission Appointments on Agenda

Two appointments to the Plainfield Youth Commission are on tonight's City Council Agenda.

Resolution R 246-16 calls for the appointments of Nancy Jordan and Kelly Shaw, each for two-year terms ending on July 18, 2018.

Back in 2006, youth issues came to the fore with creation of both a Youth Commission and a Youth Council. See Plaintalker's 2006 report on the Youth Commission here.

Unfortunately, only four members of a possible 15 members were appointed and three were in the same family. The Youth Commission faded away when the appointments expired several years ago.

The membership roster is supposed to include two sitting City Council members, two adult at-large members, two youth members designated by the mayor, seven youth members recommended to the mayor by the council members, and two youth members from the public at-large recommended to the mayor by the City Council. The entire ordinance may be accessed online through the Municipal Code.

Recent municipal budgets have included funding for a "Youth Guidance Council" under the category of Community Purposes. I have not been able to learn the makeup or leadership of this council. To my knowledge, no members were ever appointed by the governing body. For several years, the council received $2,000. But for the last couple of years, the Youth Guidance Council has received $35,000 annually. It is unclear how this entity relates to the Youth Commission and Youth Council that were established by ordinance.

Please note that tonight's Special Meeting  begins at 7 p.m. in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.

--Bernice

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