Future members of the Seward County Planning Commission will be appointed to represent seven specific areas of the county or one of two at-large positions and will have to live outside any village or city boundaries.
The Seward County Board of Commissioners on Nov. 25 approved changes to the planning commission’s bylaws to better represent all of the county, noting that six of the nine current members live in the eastern half of the county.
Right now, the board includes three members who live in the Garland area, two in the Pleasant Dale area, one in the Staplehurst area, one in the Seward area and two in the Beaver Crossing area.
The new geographic plan will have appointees from three combined areas and four village or city areas: Beaver Crossing/Cordova, Bee/Garland, Goehner/Staplehurst, Milford, Pleasant Dale, Seward, and Utica. The other two members will be appointed at-large.
While more people live in the eastern portion of the county, the current board does not include anyone from the Utica area.
Residents may apply to be considered for planning commission positions, which are appointed by the board of commissioners. As with other boards and commissions, county commissioners sometimes recruit people from their districts to take on those roles.
The bylaw changes also include the restriction that planning commission members must live outside village or city limits.
That criteria raised some questions among the board.
Board Chair Misty Ahmic said the residency requirement “just makes sure we are representing geography on the board.”
Commissioner Scott Pekarek, who like Ahmic served on the planning commission before running for the county board, agreed.
“It is to our advantage to have people who are actually rural,” he said.
County Attorney Wendy Elston said, while it was not a legal opinion, she did receive a question from a resident who thought the move might exclude some people who might bring relevant skills and knowledge to the commission.
Commissioner Raegan Hain said the rule may prohibit the county from tapping someone with key knowledge and experience in the zoning area.
“Sometimes it is hard to find qualified people to serve on these boards,” she said.
If finding enough rural residents who are interested and qualified for the planning becomes an issue, Hain said they may have to revisit the residency requirements.
In the end, the commissioners voted unanimously to change the planning commission bylaws. The planning commission endorsed the changes at its November meeting.
The change will have the board of commissioners appointing planning commissioners based on geographic allocations beginning with appointments made for terms beginning in 2027, when four of the nine commissioners’ terms expire. Members whose terms expire in 2026 have already been reappointed.
The commissioners’ terms expire based on the date on which they were appointed, so there is no standard expiration date. The four expiring in 2027 are spread over the year.
