(a) Creation. For the purpose of making effective the provisions of Title 8 Historic Preservation and Protection, there is established an historic district board of review to be known as the Historic Preservation Commission (hereinafter referred to as “the commission”).
(b) Staffing. The staff of the city housing and neighborhood development and planning department (hereinafter referred to as “the staff”) shall serve as staff to the commission at the commission's discretion. Each official of the city who has responsibility for building inspection, planning or zoning shall provide necessary technical, administrative or clerical assistance requested by the commission.
(c) Composition. The commission shall consist of nine voting members who must be residents of the city. All members shall be appointed by the mayor of the city subject to the approval of the common council of the city (hereinafter referred to as “common council”). All members shall be interested in the preservation and development of historic buildings and areas.
(1) The membership shall include individual members with demonstrated expertise in historic preservation activities. To the extent available to the community, the commission shall include professional members from the disciplines of architecture, history, architectural history, preservation planning, archaeology, or other historic preservation-related disciplines, such as urban planning, American studies, art history, American civilization, cultural geography or cultural anthropology.
(2) Nonvoting, advisory member(s) may be appointed to this commission by the common council. Such a member shall have recognized expertise in the field of historic preservation. The term of the advisory members shall be for three years.
(d) Terms of Office. The terms of the original voting commission members shall be staggered as follows: Three members for three-year terms, three members for two-year terms, and three members for one-year terms. Thereafter, voting members shall each serve for a term of three years, and all terms shall commence on January 1st and expire on December 31st. A vacancy shall be filled through appointment by the mayor and approval of the common council only for the unexpired duration of the term.
(e) Serve Without Compensation. Members of the commission shall serve without compensation, except for reasonable expenses incurred in the performance of their duties. (Ord. 97-06 § 16, 1997; Ord. 97-03 § 12 (part), 1997)