FCSS board looking for public members

The Town of Olds is actively seeking new recruits to join the Family and Community Support Services board. Five members of council were reappointed to the board at council's meeting on Feb. 25.

Council members have been serving as the board since October 2011, when there was insufficient public interest in serving on the board to make any appointments.

Barbara Hill, the town's director of community services, said members of the department have had conversations with two or three members of the public who are interested in serving on the board. She said they will be encouraged to apply to be board members.

Meanwhile, the town is actively seeking more public members in order to make it a full public board as intended, and remove councillors from serving.

"(Councillors) will (sit on the board) until we get a full slate of public members. We need five members of the public,î Hill said.

Hill said the advantage of having a public board as opposed to one made up of councillors is twofold: Public members add to what councillors already know about the community and hopefully represent the diversity that exists in the community.

"As we look at members, we're going to look to see what sector they represent Ö we're going to try to get a broad cross-section of people who are interested in the preventive social service development of the community. We want to engage people in the community more and we are looking at how we allocate funds and we think from a community perspective that's an important aspect to bring in terms of building the capacity of the community,î she said.

Board members advise councillors about social services and programs, review projects that come forward and make recommendations to council. They will also be another vehicle to promote cooperation among community groups that are involved in preventive social services and provide another point of contact with community members relative to community services and community building.

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