Use the Appointments screen to manage the membership of the various government bodies that are controlled through appointments rather than election. Legistar does not treat these members any differently within the system. While most of our clients manage all their memberships through the Office Members tab in the Bodies section, some use the Appointments screen to manage citizen-run boards or sub-committees.

The process of adding a new appointment is identical to adding a new member through the Office Members tab with one notable exception: when you add an appointee, you must select the body to which they are being added from the Body drop-down list. This is required because when you use the Office Members tab to add a member, you are already in an area that is associated with a specific meeting body. The Appointments screen is not in such an area.

Note: The Show Members Only for Selected Date checkbox is selected by default; when it is selected, it displays all the members for a specific date. The default is today's date.

  1. From the left menu, click People, then click Appointments.
  2. Click New. The following fields and checkboxes are displayed:

Appointment New.png

  1. Complete the following fields and checkboxes (required fields are marked with an asterisk):
ItemDescription

*Member

Select the name of the appointee from the drop-down list available. This list is populated through your entries in the People section; if the appointee does not yet exist in the list, click the plus sign to open the People Main tab and add him or her (or to make changes to the record of the selected name), then click Go Back. The InSite web portal displays the member’s name if you select the Show on Web checkbox located on this screen.

*Body

Select the government body to which you want to add the appointee from the drop-down list available. This list is populated through your entries in the Bodies section; if the body does not yet exist in the list, click the plus sign to open the Bodies Main tab and add it (or to make changes to the record of the selected body), then click Go Back.

Office Title

From the drop-down list available, select the title that the appointee will use as a member of this body for this term.  If the title does not yet exist in the list, click the plus sign to open the Titles screen and add a new title or edit an existing title, then click Go Back. The InSite web portal displays the member’s office title if you select the Show on Web checkbox located on this screen.

Appointed By

Select the name of the official who appointed the selected member to this office from the drop-down list available. This is not a required field and you would typically use it only for the appointment of citizens to non-elected boards and commissions. The InSite web portal displays this information if you select the Show on Web checkbox located on this screen.

*Start Date

Enter the date the appointee takes office. You can select the calendar icon and use the calendar to select a date. The format is MM/DD/YYYY. This will show in InSite.

Note: The Start Date must be prior to the End Date. If this person is in office for consecutive terms, this date should be the day after the End Date of the previous term.  There should be no overlap in terms of office.

* End Date

Enter the date the appointee's term ends. You can select the calendar icon and use the calendar to select a date. The format is MM/DD/YYYY. This will show in InSite.

Note: The Start Date must be prior to the End Date. If this person is in office for consecutive terms, this date should be the day before the Start Date of the next term.  There should be no overlap in terms of office.

*Member Type

Select the member type from the drop-down list available. The Member Type distinguishes the Chair, Vice-Chair and members. These designations can be used for the formatting of names on displays and reports.

Term-Out Date

Enter the date upon which the member's term ends by rule, even if he or she has remained in office for a period of time due to the lack of a replacement. You can select the calendar icon and use the calendar to select a date. The format is MM/DD/YYYY. This is not a required field and you would typically use it only for the appointment of citizens to non-elected boards and commissions.

Sort Order

This field determines the order in which members display on roll calls and reports. If you want to place the members in a specific order, enter 1 for the member you want to place at the top and number all other members accordingly (2, 3, 4, etc.).

Note: Enter 999 for all members to automatically list them alphabetically by first name.

Vote Weight

Assign a numeric value to the person's vote at a meeting. This is almost always set to 1.00, which is the equivalent of “One man, one vote.”  If the selected appointee is a non-voting member, you can set this field to zero.  If he or she is a student member, you might set this field to 0.5.

Extra Text

Enter any internal notes that you want to keep regarding this individual/appointment. These notes do not print or display on the web.

Alternate Approver

Select the name of an alternate approver from the drop-down list available. This person stands in for the appointee when the appointee is not available.

Can Sign

Select this check box if the appointee can sign certified copies, signature reports, and other Legistar-generated documents that can print an electronic signature.  Selecting the checkbox enables the member’s name to be listed and selected as a signatory to those reports.

Term Extended?

Select this checkbox to extend the term of office for this member beyond the end date, although never beyond the term-out date.  Use this checkbox to enable the person to continue to be listed on various screens and reports as a member of the body, even though the end date has passed and there is no additional appointed or elected term for this person in this body.  This is not a required field and you would typically use it only for the appointment of citizens to non-elected boards and commissions.

Approver

Select this checkbox to indicate the appointee is an approver in the Approval Tracking Module process. 

Show on Web

Select this checkbox for the InSite Web portal to display the appointee’s name, title, term start date and end date, email and website information, and the name of the person who appointed them. 

  1. Click Save.