Similar to some of the other boards under the City of Denison umbrella, the city council is moving forward to allow one out-of-town resident to serve on the Planning & Zoning Commission.

The proposal was introduced by Mayor Pam Soseman at Tuesday’s council meeting.

She said she had been trying to appoint more women to boards, commissions and agencies and appointed the first women on the Planning & Zoning Commission a number of years ago. Now she has identified another woman she said would be a good addition to Planning & Zoning.

The issue is that this person’s address is Denison, but her residence lies just outside the city limits, along Highway 59 south.

“I’m asking for an amendment to the ordinance that says they have to live in Denison,” Soseman said.

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She added that one out-of-town member has been allowed on many of the city’s other boards and commissions, including the housing agency, airport board, and parks and recreation.

Councilman Corey Curnyn said the council should make sure that a distance limit from the city boundaries should be specified, adding that the planning and zoning commission is different from other boards and agencies.

City staff will review the specifications on out-of-town members of other boards and commissions and bring a recommendation back to the council.

At that point, the council can pass the first reading of the ordinance amendment or waive the second and third readings of the amendment and immediately pass it.

The new member of planning and zoning can’t be appointed until after the amended ordinance is published in a newspaper.

Soseman said the planning and zoning commission hasn’t had a lot of meetings, “but again you have a predominant male board and before I came in (to office) it was all male.”

Councilwoman Jennifer Zupp-Smith, who is an attorney, said her issue is that a person shouldn’t be appointed to a board or commission based on gender.

“I don’t care if it’s male, female, all male, all female or other, that shouldn’t be a criteria at all,” she said. “I would just say if you’re finding the most qualified person and you want to expand the ordinance for that, fine. If we’re changing the ordinance to accommodate sex, that wouldn’t be fine.”

City Clerk Jodie Flaherty said Soseman was probably working off the time when the state changed to gender neutral boards, which encourages gender equity.

“That is the law now; it says to do that,” added Zupp-Smith. “I’ve always thought that law was unconstitutional myself. I would just ask that we not choose anybody based on sex or race or religion.”

Soseman assured that the woman she has in mind for planning and zoning is very well qualified.

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