ARTESIA : Advisory Panels for Public Issues to Return

A decade after several city commissions were disbanded for lack of interest, the City Council plans to revive panels to give advice on parks, public safety and property maintenance.

Council members John Lyon and Timothy J. Kelemen said they plan to recommend at the June 13 council meeting that three five-member commissions be created. A public safety commission to consider issues ranging from crosswalk placement to graffiti problems would be established first, Lyon said.

The commissions could cost the city as much as $35,000 a year in materials, staff time and commissioners’ stipends of $25 per meeting, according to a report by City Manager Paul J. Philips. But Kelemen said he hopes to avoid the stipends and trim overtime charges by shifting the schedules of city employees who would attend commission meetings.