The Philomath City Council established a new liaison position with the Benton County Historical Society during its Aug. 11 meeting and councilor Jessica Andrade agreed to take on the role.
The idea to add a liaison to the BCHS board came up in January when the mayor and councilors were having their annual discussion about filling the various existing positions with local nonprofits and social service agencies.
The liaison positions help the council stay “abreast of what is happening in
the community, as well as to help identify needs and opportunities to address common
problems or issues that arise,” according to a staff report included in the meeting packet.
In addition to the BCHS, councilors also had talked about creating the same type of role with the Corvallis-Benton County Library, which includes Philomath Community Library in its network.
“They’re very open to the idea and concept but they’ve got some very specific bylaws with their agreement between Corvallis and Benton County that are very scripted on who makes up their advisory board … or their liaison positions,” City Manager Chris Workman said. “So we’re looking into that – it’s just going to take a little bit more time.”
Andrade was appointed to the BCHS liaison position on a 7-0 vote.