Citizen Advisory Commissions: A great way to give back

The City of Roseville has seven citizen advisory commissions whose members advise city leaders on a multitude of issues and also serve as liaisons to share resident perspectives with city leaders.

No experience is needed and training is provided. Your willingness to serve and give back to your community are the gifts you bring as a commission member. The city council relies on active citizen voices when working to enact city policies and ordinances.

Commissioners are volunteers, but they must apply and be appointed by the city council in order to serve. High school students under the age of 18 are welcome to apply and serve as "youth commissioners."

While it is not a requirement for being elected to city council, many candidates get their start by volunteering on a commission. All five current Roseville city council members served on city commissions before being elected.

Here’s a look at the various commissions and their advisory responsibilities:

Equity and Inclusion 

This seven member Equity and Inclusion Commission (EIC) partners with city leaders to advance the principles of equity and inclusion. Members duties include:

• Review and provide feedback on equity and inclusion workplans.
• Review and provide feedback on the city’s Strategic Equity Action Plan (SREAP).
• Serve on the City’s Equity and Inclusion Action Team.

This commission meets in the City Council Chambers on the third Wednesday of the month at 6:30 pm.

Ethics

This Ethics Commission includes a representative from each of the standing commissions. The duties and functions of this committee include:

• Advise the city council on matters related to the ethics code.
• Administer the city council approved ethics code. 
• Provide annual ethics training for city council and commission members,
• Other duties as delegated by the city council.

This commission will hold an annual meeting and otherwise meet on an as-needed basis or when an ethics complaint is filed.

Finance

This seven member Finance Commission duties and functions include:

• Advise on short and long term financial policy matters, such as cash reserve funds.
• Recommend budget goals including local tax rate and tax levy, and managing enterprise funds and spending.
• Review and recommend budget and financial reporting methods and tools to increase transparency and increased communication to the public.
• Review and recommend timeline and process for creating the city budget.
• Review the annual financial information, the annual audit report, management letter, and the city’s investment policy and its portfolio.

This commission meets in the City Council Chambers on the second Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm.

Parks and Recreation

The ten member Parks and Recreation Commission makes recommendations to the Director of Parks and Recreation, the city manager, and the city council on issues related to recreation programs, facilities, trails, and services. Commissioner responsibilities include:.

• Identify areas that may require action or chance to promote and enhance a harmonious and safe parks and recreation program.
• Provide a conduit for citizen input regarding the city’s parks and recreation facilities services, programs, trails and other areas of concern.

This commission meets in the City Council Chambers on the first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm.

Planning

The seven member Planning Commission duties include:

• Identify and addresses issues regarding development plans, policies and applications.
• Make recommendations to the city council for action on planning cases.
• Serve as a conduit for citizen input on specific planning applications. 

The four member Variance Board is a subset of the Planning Commission. The Board is responsible for:

• Hearing applications for variances and with the authority to adopt the applications by resolution. Appeals of Variance Board decisions are heard by the city council.

This commission meets in the City Council Chambers on the first Wednesday of the month at 6:30 pm. The Variance Board meets at 5:30 pm right before the Planning Commission meeting.

Police Civil Service

This three member Police Civil Service Commission is charged with:

• Reviewing the employment practices of the Police Department (RPD) to ensure they are fair and reasonable per state statute.
• Monitoring and making determinations concerning RPD employment practices as opposed to advocating for police personnel and management.

This commission will meet on the first Monday in February each year, and thereafter shall fix the times of its meetings

Public Works, Environment, & Transportation (PWET)

This seven member PWET Commission has the following duties and functions.

• Advising the city council, city manager, and the Director of Public Works on issues related to public works, environmental, and transportation.
• Understanding the Public Works Department and how federal, state, county, regional and other services that impact Roseville’s public works function.

This commission meets in the City Council Chambers on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm.

Commission Terms

• Commission members may serve two consecutive full terms of three years each on a commission in addition to any partial term served to complete an unexpired term resulting from a vacancy or an initial term upon creation of a commission. 
• When members of an existing commission are transferred by the city council to a new commission, term limits apply to the combined time on both commissions.
• Youth commissioners serve for one year and may not be appointed or re-appointed to a term during which they will turn 19 years of age. Youth commissioners may serve up to three consecutive terms. 
• Upon completion of service on one commission, residents can be eligible for appointment to another commission, or after a period of at least one year, for appointment to the same commission on which they have previously served.

Future Openings

As of today, there is only one opening for a commission member for the Fall 2025 application period. That opening is on the PWET Commission (Public Works, Environment, and Transportation).

Applications will be due on August 8 at 4:30 PM. Applications received after that time will be considered for the Spring 2026 application period. Interviews for the open position will be on August 20 at City Hall.  Vacancies do occur between the scheduled application periods. Those terms shall be filled by the city council for the unexpired portion of a term per the city’s appointment policy.

There are spring and fall application periods and applicants for all commissions are interviewed and chosen by the city council.

If you have any questions about commission vacancies, contact the Volunteer Manager, Rachel Boggs at Rachel.Boggs@cityofroseville.com

Watch a Commission Meeting

Citizen advisory commissions follow open meeting laws and anyone from the public is welcome to come watch a meeting or participate in public comment. Meetings are also broadcast and videos archived online for watching later. The best way to watch recent or upcoming meetings is by visiting the Agendas & Minutes section of the City of Roseville website. Click on the meeting to open the agenda. The video can be found in the "Meeting Media" section of the menu on the left side.

This article was written by Greg Simbeck, a new contributing writer for the Roseville Reader. Welcome, Greg!

Greg Simbeck is a freelance writer who lives in Roseville, Minnesota. He has had 200 articles published on national sites including Yardbarker, WhoWhatWhy, and New Leaf News. He and his wife Mary Jo have lived in Roseville for over 17 years. He was previously a commissioner on the Roseville Parks and Recreation Commission and a board member of the Rice-Larpenteur Alliance.