Boards and Commissions
City government works best when its citizens and residents are engaged. The City of Syracuse engages residents in a variety of ways including by having residents serve on municipal boards and advisory boards.
A municipal board is a governing body within local government that has decision-making responsibility for allocating money and making policies on specific areas like land use, zoning, and reviewing property assessments.
An advisory board provides expert advice and recommendations to a governing body without having the responsibility of making final decisions themselves. The input and guidance of advisory boards is important to creating new policies to serve the public.
Open Meetings Law
Municipal boards and commissions are also governed by Open Meetings Law in New York State; advisory boards are not. This means that the meetings of municipal boards must be publicly advertised, recorded, and documented because they are governing bodies whose decisions are binding. The City's Public Meetings Calendar shows all public meetings of government business including those for the Syracuse Common Council and the city's municipal boards and commissions.