BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood town council voted unanimously Monday night to pass final reading of an amendment to reduce the number of members on each of the Town’s boards and commissions from seven to five members, effective June 2026.
Councilman Rich McKenrick explained that having seven members on each of the boards and commissions makes them less able to operate efficiently at times.
“Town council values those who have chosen to serve on our various boards and commissions,” McKenrick said. “We’ve found that having seven members on each board and commission has made it difficult at times to keep a full membership roster, and it increases the number needed at each meeting to establish a quorum.”
McKenrick said the establishment of five member boards and commissions should help with both challenges.
Board members on each of the boards and commission – Planning Commission, Board of Architectural Review, and Board of Zoning Appeals – are appointed by council to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis. In the past, town hall announced when members’ terms were to expire, giving time for other residents, as well as the sitting board and commission members whose terms were expiring, to apply for appointment to the upcoming vacant seats.
During the last couple of years, that schedule was not followed and a number of terms expired without seeking applications for the new terms.
On Jan. 27, 2025, Mayor Sloan Griffin, acting at that time as strong mayor of the town, recommended that council vote to reappoint 11 members of the three boards and commissions to new terms that would extend to 2027 without opening the application process to new members. Those reappointments included two members of the Planning Commission and two members of the Board of Zoning Appeals whose terms had already expired, as well as the entire Board of Architectural Review including some whose terms had not expired.
“Reappointment of the entire Board of Architectural Review would have resulted in the terms of the entire board expiring at the same time instead of staggered terms,” McKenrick said.
Council’s remedy is to re-sync the three-year terms for each board and commission, and to eliminate entirely seats 6 and 7 on each board and commission in June, leaving each with five members.
“Council looks forward to appointing some new faces next month,” he said. “This step has the added benefit of offering more folks the opportunity to serve their town in some capacity.”
Here’s what the immediate changes will look like, according to McKenrick:
On the Planning Commission, Travis Smith’s seat 6 and Nikki Shaffner’s seat 7 will be eliminated in June, 2026, to comply with the new ordinance providing for only five members.
Terms for Alex McLean’s seat 1 and Marus Taylor’s seat 2 will expire the last day of Sept., 2027 and every three years after that.
Bill Tome (seat 3) and Ja’maal Mosley (seat 4) are both serving expired terms.
Katasha Hyacinth’s seat 5 term will expire in June , 2026.
Appointments will be made to seats 3, 4, and 5 at the May town council meeting and will become effective in June, 2026.
On the Board of Zoning Appeals, longtime Chair Pat Littlejohn’s seat 6 and Robert McLean’s seat 7 will be eliminated, effective June, 2026.
Longtime board member Ray Fantone’s seat 1 will expire in June, 2027.
Seats 2 and 3 are vacant. Appointments to those two seats will be appointed in May, to become effective in June, 2026. The new term for seat 2 will extend to 2027. The new term for seat 3 will extend to 2028. The terms will be returned to their original rotations prior to the Jan. 27 appointment vote.
Ed Parler (seat 4), and Mario Lewis (seat 5) could be reappointed in May to become effective in June, 2026. Thereafter, seat 4 would extend to 2028 and seat 5 would extend to 2029.
On the Board of Architectual Review, Sandy York’s seat 6 and seat 7 (vacant) will be eliminated in June to leave five board members.
Jeremy Inman’s seat 1 and Paul Moscati’s seat 2 will expire in May, 2027.
Jim McLeam’s seat 3, Keith Bailey’s seat 4, and Cindy Nord’s seat 5 are all expired. When appointments are made in May, to become effective in June, 2026, terms for seats 3 and 4 will extend to 2028. The term for seat 5 will extend to 2029.
Going forward, the town will advertise upcoming vacancies on all boards and commissions no later than August. Appointments will be made in September of the appointment year, and members will take seats with terms beginning on Oct. 1.