A plan for how future planning commission seats are assigned appears to be in place following a joint meeting Monday by the Pottawatomie County Board of County Commissioners and the Planning Commission.
As reported in the Pottawatomie County Times, with the Board of County Commissioners expanding to five members after the upcoming election, the Unified Development Regulations (UDR) regarding the formation of the Planning Commission needed to be amended. Currently the Planning Commission consists of 10 regular voting members. Two members are appointed from each county commission district and the other four are appointed at-large from the county.
The map proposed recently by the Planning Commission divided the county into eight Planning Commission member districts of equal size, four to the north and four to the south, but County Administrator Chad Kinsley voiced concerns that all 10 members could potentially live in County Commission District 5, which could create a political imbalance.
After some discussion, Planning Commissioner Judd McCormack suggested grouping the eight Planning Commission Member districts into four larger districts. Each county commissioner would appoint someone from their commissioner district, and four more would be appointed from the four Planning Commission Districts, and one chosen at large.
All present at the meeting were in agreement and County Counselor John Watt offered to draft a resolution to reflect the necessary changes. That resolution will be considered at an upcoming county commission meeting.
