VENICE — The Citizen Advisory Board had a bit of an existential crisis Wednesday.
The still-new board was meeting for the third time after being formed earlier this year to replace the former Parks and Recreation, Environmental and Public Art advisory boards.
Its agenda included a briefing by City Manager Ed Lavallee on the city’s capital improvement program and schedule, and discussions of the board’s priorities and meeting schedule.
Currently, the board meets quarterly.
When it was time to discuss priorities, which the CAB needs to have approved by the City Council, Board Member Roger Effron said he’s “somewhat confused.”
“I’m still not sure what this committee is about,” said Effron, the former chair of the parks board, and that makes it hard to set priorities.
Board Member Steve Carr said he expected the board would actively be giving input to the Council by now.
Effron also expressed concern that the priority-setting process could inhibit the board, which is supposed to function as “the ears and eyes of much of the city,” he said. Members might come to a meeting with questions posed by members of the public, and he would hope to be able to get answers for them.