1. City Councilors may be appointed, either by the City or by another entity, to serve as the City of Ashland’s representative to State, regional, and community organizations. In all cases, the City’s representatives will follow the bylaws and guidelines for service of the organization to which they have been appointed.

2. The purposes of serving as an official representative to State, regional, community, and other external organizations are to ensure effective working relationships with other agencies and organizations; ensure that Ashland uses all possible avenues to achieve community goals; achieve City Council goals both within the community and in the Rogue Valley; protect the home rule authority of the City of Ashland to make decisions that are best for the community; ensure that key City revenue streams are protected; and secure federal and State funds for projects that benefit the City of Ashland and other community institutions.

3. In their work as City representatives, City Councilors are expected to represent the full City Council accurately and objectively and to depict the position of other Councilors accurately and objectively. If the Council has an approved position on a matter under discussion, the Representative shall articulate and, if called upon, vote in favor of that position. If the City Representative is asked to take an official position on an issue that affects the City of Ashland and the City’s official position is unknown or unclear, the City Representative should request that the item be placed on a City Council agenda in accordance with AMC 2.04.030 for full City Council action. If the Council has not approved an official position and has not had the opportunity to confer with the City Representative on a matter under deliberation in the subject external organization, the Representative shall make a good-faith effort to reflect what the Representative believes the full Council’s position would be if the Council were to consider the matter, regardless of the Representative’s personal views, and shall report to the Council on the matter discussed in the external organization at the next feasible opportunity thereafter. Conduct contrary to the guidelines in this subsection is grounds for removal under subsection E of this section.

4. City Representatives serving as voting members on another organization’s Board of Directors (such as the Rogue Valley Council of Governments) should work in the best interest of that organization unless such action would not be in the best interest of the City of Ashland.

5. If the City Representative has an actual or potential personal conflict of interest, as defined in Oregon Ethics Law, the Representative must fully comply with the applicable requirements of Oregon Ethics Law and City ethics ordinances.

6. City Council members may attend meetings of State, regional, and community organizations as citizens of Ashland. When attending as a citizen, Council members must identify their comments as personal views or opinions, not a representation of City Council policy.

1. The Mayor will appoint a Councilor to represent the City to state, regional, and community organizations to which the City is entitled to an official delegate. The City Council shall confirm these appointments.

2. The Mayor and City Councilors may also be invited by external organizations to represent either the City of Ashland or “cities” in general. In these cases, the Mayor or Councilor that has been asked to serve will inform the City Council in a regular meeting of the assignment and request that the City Council confirm the appointment.

3. Councilors interested in a particular subject area should inform the Mayor of their interest and the Mayor should take the expression of interest and/or a Councilor’s preference into account when making appointment decisions. City Representative appointments shall be for a term of one (1) year unless otherwise expressly stated. Appointments are generally made on an annual basis in January and the Mayor shall make an effort to rotate Representative assignments if there is more than one (1) Councilor expressing a preference for a specific appointment.