Commissioner's Little Handbook: A Portable Guide for Local Government Advisory Board Members

Finally, a handbook for the 1.2 million advisory board members serving over 83,000 local governments in the United States. This pocket size, 144 page reference guide is a bountiful source of ideas, advice and checklists for volunteers sitting on library boards, planning commissions or blue ribbon committees. Once appointed, these citizen volunteers are given some exposure to the technical aspects of the job, an out-of-date orientation manual and promptly asked to take on complicated community or organizational issues. Unfortunately, they are given very little guidance on the nuances of working with a group of diverse people within a complex local government political environment.

As a result they must learn on the job and while they are learning, they are non-contributing members of the commission. When these new members attend meetings, they do not actively participate because they do not have the confidence to jump into the commission discussion nor do they ask questions for fear of looking uninformed. This getting up-to-speed period costs the organization dollars, not only in terms of wasted energy, but also lost staff time and resources.

It doesnt have to be that way. Commissioners Little Handbook helps address this information gap. It is a portable reference guide containing a bountiful source of ideas, advice and checklists for commissioners, staff members who provide commission support and the elected officials who appoint these advisory board members.