The CAB (Community Advisory Board) will meet later this month, but Lakeland residents can contact their representatives any time via emails.
Shane Horn, Lakeland city manager, provided email contacts for the eight-member group as well as a map showing the district divisions of the Board.
CAB members were selected by the BOC (Board of Commissioners) to represent geographical areas of the City from north to south Lakeland and in-between, all serving two-year terms and meeting quarterly. Their first meeting was in September.
CAB will meet at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 21st at City Hall, its first quarterly session for the New Year. Emily Harrell, Lakeland city engineer, will be the speaker for the January meeting.
Michele Dial, BOC liaison to the CAB, said, “I’d like to encourage all citizens to contact your districts’ representative; expressing concerns, providing suggestions, and offering ideas specific to your area in the city. Dream big! This Board wants to hear ideas for what citizens might like to see for the future of our beautiful city!
“These representatives can help connect you if you would like to use your talents to enrich our community! You could volunteer for Keep Lakeland Beautiful, present a program or activity at the Lakeland Senior Center, volunteer at City events, get involved in the Recreation/Sports programs and share ideas of how to bring your neighborhood together for community building.”
Commissioner Dial added, “Do you have a suggestion as to what you’d like your CAB representative to learn about at future CAB meetings? Let us hear from you!”
Goals of the group include:
- Improve communication between Lakeland residents, City staff and the BOC
- Provide citizens the opportunity for early engagement on important community issues/concerns
- Create an opportunity for Lakeland residents to learn more about City government and departments
- Provide input directly from their respective neighborhood area to inform staff and BOC in an effort to more efficiently to allocate resources
The volunteer Board was proposed by Commissioner Dial during her run for office in the fall of 2018. During the election, Mrs. Dial said, “I propose a Volunteer Board be formed which will be made up of one representative from each area of the City. We will meet quarterly to discuss the needs of each area, which will in effect build trust in City leaders and staff that is sorely lacking. This board will have the facts and research for upcoming projects/ideas and realize the difficulty of decisions that have to be made, having a voice in making them.”
