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Boards and commissions act as advisory bodies helping local governments make decisions on important issues — whether that is advocating for visual arts or affordable housing.
But many of Albuquerque’s boards and commissions are short members.
Nearly 80% of Albuquerque’s boards and commissions have empty seats — ranging from one vacant position to 10. Of the city’s 56 boards and commissions, 46 have vacant positions — 156 vacancies in total.
Doug Small, the director of public affairs for the mayor’s office, said there are fewer vacancies now than there have been in the past and the city is streamlining its process for recruiting new board members.
“Previously, this had only been one person on our team, sort of responsible for processing all of them, which was a lot, because they’re very paperwork intensive,” Small said. “We have transferred all of our boards and commissions process from being a paper process — which was incredibly tedious — to all digitized, and I think that was a big effort.”
Small said there will now be two staff members in charge of recruiting people for the positions and processing the applications.
The boards and commissions have different member requirements, numbers of positions available and vacancy deadlines. Some require a vacancy to be filled within 45 to 60 days, and others do not have a deadline.
Each board or commission member is appointed by the mayor with advice and approval from the City Council, according to the city’s Public Boards, Commissions and Committees Ordinance.
While the city has faced some challenges filling positions that require an applicant to have a specific knowledge base or district requirements, there is still “robust public interest” in the positions, according to Small.
“We’re always looking for more people to apply to boards,” Small said. “If someone is interested in serving on a particular board, and they see that the seat is filled, we’d still definitely encourage them to apply. The seat does not have to be open for someone to apply to the board.”
Here is a list of all the city’s boards and commissions and the number of vacancies for each:
Vacant positions: 10
Vacant positions: 9
Vacant positions: 8
Vacant positions: 7
Vacant positions: 7
Vacant positions: 6
Vacant positions: 6
Vacant positions: 6
Vacant positions: 6
Vacant positions: 5
Vacant positions: 5
Vacant positions: 5
Vacant positions: 5
Vacant positions: 5
Vacant positions: 5
Vacant positions: 4
Vacant positions: 4
Vacant positions: 3
Vacant positions: 3
Vacant positions: 3
Vacant positions: 3
Vacant positions: 3
Vacant positions: 3
Vacant positions: 2
Vacant positions: 2
Vacant positions: 2
Vacant positions: 2
Vacant positions: 2
Vacant positions: 2
Vacant positions: 2
Vacant positions: 2
Vacant positions: 2
Vacant positions: 2
Vacant positions: 2
Vacant positions: 2
Vacant positions: 1
Vacant positions: 1
Vacant positions: 1
Vacant positions: 1
Vacant positions: 1
Vacant positions: 1
Vacant positions: 1
Vacant positions: 1
Vacant positions: 1
Vacant positions: 1
Vacant positions: 1
Vacant positions: 0
Vacant positions: 0
Vacant positions: 0
Vacant positions: 0
Vacant positions: 0
Vacant positions: 0
Vacant positions: 0
Vacant positions: 0
Vacant positions: 0
Vacant positions: 0
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
To learn more about boards and commissions or to apply for a vacant position, visit the city’s website.
