Courtesy Annie Wolfe, The Pottawatomie County Times
As the Pottawatomie County Commission prepares to expand from three to five seats in January 2025, uncertainty remains over how the change will impact appointments to the Planning Commission in the future.
As reported in the Pottawatomie County Times, the Planning Commission currently consists of 10 voting members, with two appointed from each of the three county commission districts and four members appointed at large. If each of the five future commissioners are allowed to appoint two individuals each to the planning commission, it will result in eight of the members being concentrated in the southern half of the county, which some on the Planning Commission see as an unfair representation of the interests of the county. They’ve proposed a map to more evenly distribute Planning Commission members by area rather than population.
County Counselor John Watt says the Planning Commission was overstepping their duties by proposing how members should be appointed, noting the decision was solely that of the county commission.
Further complicating matters is the fact that anything approved now, can be undone by the future board in January.
Commissioners Greg Riat and Pat Weixelman both liked the proposed map but questioned how the proposed areas would be distributed among the five commissioners.
Commissioners agreed that the matter be the subject of a joint work session between the two boards was the next best step.
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