Nov 01, 2009 (The Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Bowling Green, Warren County and the City-County Planning Commission are all tied to dozens of boards and committees that debate various specific local issues. Some spend money -- though very modest amounts, compared to their parent governments -- but all are unpaid, essentially volunteer positions. Nevertheless, they all have some say in shaping the community and its rules. Many of these boards are well-known, but others work in obscurity.

At least one has operated so far below the public radar that it has for five years escaped any real notice by the city, which professes to regard it as a joint venture with Warren County government.

Last month Mayor Elaine Walker asked about the membership and function of the Planning and Zoning Liaison Committee. According to a May 2004 city municipal order, she and the county judge-executive are supposed to jointly appoint the board's 14 members, but Walker said that in her nearly five years in office she's never gotten any recommendations or been asked to make any appointments.

She regularly gets a list of other city-connected boards that list members, term lengths and any openings -- but only brief mention of the liaison committee, she said.

"Every time I've gotten it, that board comes up with only a listing," Walker said. That's why she checked on the city's involvement, as part of a continuing general review of old city orders for current relevance.

"I was told that it was formed as a county board, and at the time they didn't really know why the city passed it," Walker said.

She asked for a presentation on the committee's function from Steve Hunter, planning commission executive director. That's scheduled for city commissioners' nonvoting work session at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

According to the board's chairman, local builder and contractor Jody Allen, the committee really isn't a secret. The city, county and planning commission have all been notified of the meeting times, which haven't changed since the committee started operation, he said.

"We meet the second Monday of every month at the homebuilder's association office," Allen said. The Builders Association of South Central Kentucky is at 859 Lovers Lane.

Following long and arcane discussions before fiscal court over revised subdivision regulations several years ago, the county formed the liaison committee to let developers and contractors review proposed changes before they reached a public vote, Allen said.

"Basically we're charged with simply reviewing any proposed changes to the zoning ordinance, the comp(rehensive) plan or the subdivision regulations," he said.

Now those wording disputes are resolved "nine times out of 10" before they get to county magistrates, Allen said.

Allen said he thinks many of those wording disputes arose from some planning commission staff members who are no longer there. Current staff have worked well with developers, he said.

But the committee has no authority to modify, approve or deny those proposals, only offer recommendations, Allen said.

He does not, however, remember fiscal court or the planning commission ever rejecting a recommendation that came from the liaison committee. Allen said that's because the minor wording changes committee members usually suggest are "pretty much mundane stuff." "We haven't had really any major issues in the last couple of years," he said. "I guess the bulk of this year has been taken up by the proposed changes in the new comp plan." Committee members have been closely following the plan being written to guide development over the next decade, Allen said.

The committee did speak up on one recent issue that affects the city, he said. It weighed in successfully on a debate about real estate signs.

In May, city commissioners amended their sign ordinance -- which normally prohibits any non-government-sponsored signs in city right-of-way -- to allow property sellers to place one real estate sign on adjacent public road frontage, so long as those signs are kept at least 10 feet from the pavement.

Allen said he can see how the general public might view the board as potentially working to water down development standards before they're approved, but said anyone is welcome to come to a meeting and watch the group at work. He acknowledges, however, that that doesn't often happen.

"Typically, you will get some representatives from the planning commission or some of the staff members from there," Allen said. "In the past we've had people from Public Works, the (Warren County) Road Department -- you know, just various agencies that might have anything to do with those issues." The city and planning commission both keep online public lists of their associated boards and their functions, but the liaison committee is not listed on either one. Nor are its meeting times marked on the builders association event calendar.

The committee's 14 members include two homebuilders, two developers, two contractors, two surveyors, two civil engineers, two auctioneers and two Realtors, each serving two-year terms. Each of those board seats is now occupied, Allen said.

Local professional associations for those trades are to recommend three people for each of their two specific board seats to the mayor and the county judge, according to the city's municipal order.

That order declared the liaison committee to be a joint city-county board, with its members jointly appointed by each governing body. It described the group as a "committee of interested individuals, firms and others to review proposed changes to and the enforcement of the zoning ordinances and subdivision regulations." The question Walker raised is not what the committee does, but whether it's really a joint committee of the city and county.

"My personal opinion is, we are not," Allen said. "The county passed the ordinance basically for the county. If it was a joint ordinance, it's never been brought to the county, and I don't think they have any interest in making it a joint board." Whatever commissioners decide about their involvement, though, is acceptable to him, he said.

"My dog's not in that hunt," Allen said.

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