Making Use of Expertise

Let's say you're a professional who wants to give something back to
your community by serving on a city board or commission. You open up
the newspaper and read that your mayor is saying, "It is not the
five of us commissioners who make the city great. It's the citizens
who are passionate about it, and now we're telling them, 'Sorry you
can't serve.'"<br>
<br>
Or the mayor is saying, "On certain boards we require professional
experience. With what is now required by the Ethics Commission,
these same professionals are feeling they can't run the risk of
making a mistake and being possibly thrown in jail."<br>
<br>
Suddenly, sitting on a nonprofit board looks really good, at least
in Palm Beach County, where many municipal officials have opposed the new ethics code.<br>
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These mayors, quoted in <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-boca-delray-board-ethics…; target="”_blank”">an
article yesterday in the <i>Sun-Sentinel</i></a>, appear to be passing up an opportunity to explain the importance of conflict provisions to citizens' public service on boards and commissions. Instead, they appear to want to scare off those with expertise.<br>
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The county ethics commission's executive director presents the issue
very differently. He explains that "the rules are not intended to
preclude professionals from community service, but rather to ensure
that no one is receiving special benefits from services on a board."
He says, "If people are on a board because it's good for business,
then they probably need to be on a different board to serve the
community."<br>
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There are two problems here. One involves the concept of expertise,
the other the role of experts with respect to government boards and
commissions.<br>
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<b>The Concept of Expertise</b><br>
To sit on a board that decides disputes regarding land use issues,
you don't have to have special expertise on these issues. What you
need is the interest and intelligence to learn about these
issues. There are professionals in the government who can advise you
about technical matters, and in many cases you can sit as an
alternate on a board to learn before you are required to decide.<br>
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It's great if you've had some experience, worked in the field in the
past, handled a few matters as an attorney or accountant. But to do
a good job on a land use board, you don't have to be a realtor,
developer, architect, or attorney currently working in the field in
your town.<br>
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An architect resigned as chair of the Delray Beach Historical
Preservation Board. He said, "The rules basically say that I can't
have anything to do with a project coming before my board. ... As
far as I know, every other architect on a board in Delray Beach
either has resigned or is in the process of resigning."<br>
<br>
If this is true, it shows that architects are only interested in
serving the town on boards that deal with their own business. They
may see their service as using their expertise for the benefit of
the town, but the public sees their service as trying to benefit
themselves and their colleagues. The architect feels it's fine if he
recuses himself from matters he presents to his board, but if his
colleagues keep approving his projects, and he approves theirs, it
looks like a mutual benefit society rather than a town board.<br>
<br>
If it is true that architects only serve on boards they want to
appear before, then it shows that they share a narrow view of
expertise. But the fact is that architects are highly educated professionals who could serve
well on any board or commission.<br>
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<b>Making Expertise Available</b><br>
The second issue involves the role of experts with respect to boards
and commissions related to their work. When officials say that
ethics provisions prevent the town from getting access to expertise,
they are assuming that the only way professionals can share their
expertise is by sitting on a board. Of course, this isn't true,
because most boards and commissions are advised by counsel and other professionals in government, planning officials for
planning boards, accountants for financial boards, etc.<br>
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There is no reason why outside professionals cannot make their expertise available to
boards without sitting on them (and make them available to government employees, as well). If professionals must have a seat and title to offer their expertise, there is no reason why they
can't create advisory boards. The advisory board who provides
advice on a particular matter would neither be someone involved in
the matter nor a colleague of those voting on it.
Not every expert and not every board needs to have a vote.<br>
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<b>Think, Talk, and Act Positive</b><br>
Rather than acting as if conflict rules are destructive, local
government officials should be looking for ways to make use of local expertise without
making it look like experts are involved in government to benefit
themselves. When the situation is presented and handled positively, not only will advice be offered informally or through advisory boards, but it will also turn
out that there are architects who would love to sit on a library
board, and teachers who would like to learn something about land use
issues.<br>
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Ethics reform in Palm Beach County, as elsewhere, provides a great opportunity
to change experts' view of public service and to find creative ways to make use of their expertise in a way that increases the public's belief that government is not about people trying to benefit themselves and their friends. The result will be not only professionals offering their expertise and general intelligence, but far more public participation in government.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
203-859-1959