What you need to know
Pearland City Council voted 5-2 to appoint three new board members to the Library Board and Parks, Recreation and Beautification Board, which help guide city planning, at its April 28 meeting.
Council members Rushi Patel and Chad Thumann voted against appointing the nominees. Patel pushed back against how the city currently chooses board members, citing concerns about what he felt was a lack of procedural transparency.
Currently, applicants are reviewed and recommended by a mayor-appointed advisory committee. City Council then votes to approve the nominees.
Patel said he felt that because the current process leaves the decision of which applicants to nominate entirely up to the advisory council, it lacked transparency and consensus.
“I think it’s only fair where everybody has a right to present themself,” Patel said. “I would never hire a person based on an application. I don’t think anyone would.”
Mayor Kevin Cole acknowledged the concerns but said the process has been in place since Mayor Tom Reid’s administration and was designed partly to protect applicant privacy.
Taking a step back
Pearland has two types of boards and commissions—advisory and regulatory. Applicants for advisory boards, such as Library Board, are presented to a committee consisting of the mayor, mayor pro tem and past mayor pro tem, who then recommend nominees to City Council for a decision.
On the other hand, regulatory board applicants are presented to City Council to vote on during an executive session.
Key players
The following nominees were appointed to the Pearland Library Board:
- Alice Dorsey to serve from May 2025-October 2026
- Phillip Hurd to serve in position No. 5 from May 2025-October 2026
- Corina Morales to serve in position No. 7 from May 2025-October 2027
Council members Layni Cade, Tony Carbone and Mona Chavarria, who voted to appoint the nominees, said they heard Patel’s concerns and were open to discussing the advisory board application process at a future undetermined meeting.
