Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home City Council is reviewing and trying to figure out what the focus should be for its decade-old Youth Advisory Council program
“It’s been 10 years now in service, and at the time it was developed with some specific objectives and functions in mind,” said City Manager Craig Martin. After annual changes in makeup and membership, the council has decided to revisit the role and purpose of the YAC.
For the last several years, the YAC has operated an annual road race, which has been the group’s main focus.
“It was originally intended to provide an opportunity for youth to have a voice in city government,” Martin said. That’s still in the YAC’s charter. The members have also organized social and recreational events.
Gourley and councilors Scott McKee Jr. and Dave Trask met on Oct. 23 with a couple of members of the 2012-13 YAC.
Martin hopes the effort will lead to changes in the operation and renewed energy in the group, with clear expectations from the council and commitment from members.
The YAC often had limited participation in the past year, and it was uncertain whether the Dam Run would go forward, with the decision to do it coming late in the year, McKee and Martin said.
“When they had an issue, they were motivated,” Martin said.
McKee and Martin don’t tell the YAC what to do, Martin said. The organization is autonomous and self-directed. He and McKee assist the youths on the YAC.
“It shouldn’t be my goals, not as staff assigned to the YAC,” Martin said.
But the YAC also hasn’t had the focus and purpose it had in the past. When it was formed, the skate park was under development, for example.
“Kids are hard to motivate, period,” McKee said, but “we do well. We have a good group of kids.”
Some of them work really hard, while others not as much, McKee said.
In the past, YAC members painted a gazebo and the side of the Masonic Hall. They decided they wanted to encourage fitness and started the Foster Dam 5K run, Gourley said.
They did park cleanups and talked to business owners, McKee said. The central issue is what the YAC is today, whether it is a service organization, a shadow council, a recreation organization or something else, Martin said. He said it’s possible no wide, sweeping changes are needed.
The YAC originated when the League of Oregon Cities was visiting councils and talking about getting youths involved in government. In Sweet Home, the city engaged Nancy Ellis’ civics class at Sweet Home High School, and several high school students helped develop the framework of the YAC.
The YAC has 11 positions, Martin said, although he doesn’t recall that it has ever been full. It usually has six to eight members, with varying levels of involvement. The largest YAC that he remembers had 10 members.
The YAC members were part of the community, and they talked about positives and negatives in Sweet Home, said Mayor Jim Gourley.
“They have a very broad mission,” Martin said. The question before the council is whether it wants the YAC to continue, whether it wants to maintain the group’s current structure.
There has been talk of a shadow council, which considers the same issues facing the City Council and renders non-binding decisions of its own, Martin said. Other YACs around the state work primarily in the parks and recreation area, running events for community youth.
Martin and the council want to make sure the expectations for the YAC and its participants are coming together, he said. There have been enough changes since it started that it warrants checking in.
“I think there’ll be some further continued discussion, hopefully with the full council,” Martin said.
When McKee joined the council seven years ago, the YAC was struggling even to keep going. He recruited heavily for it, looking for a balance between fun and civics, promoting free thinking and pursuit of projects that interested them, with a budget of $1,000 per year.
“They’re learning the political process at the same time,” McKee said.
Coming up, Martin would like the council to discuss it further in another work session with additional YAC members.
The YAC has openings for junior high and high school students for the 2013-14 school year. For more information or to get involved in the YAC, call the city manager’s office at (541) 367-8969.