I work for local government as an analyst. Our county has an ordinance that governs all aspects of ambulance operations in the county, from response to protocols to records. The ordinance also creates an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) advisory council to provide advice to the county's board of commissioners on all issues related to EMS. The council is made up of unelected industry representatives from the 9-1-1 ambulance services, hospital physicians, medical directors, fire departments, etc. Council membership is defined in the bylaws. I work for the Dpt. of Public Health and we enforce the ordinance, but also provide facilitator services to the council and its various committees to assure they follow parliamentarian processes and abide by the law in their deliberations. I've got two decades experience in the EMS industry, from all levels including management, and have done my current job as senior analyst for going on eight years now. My new co-worker/supervisor has been on the job one month, has zero experience in EMS, healthcare, medicine, etc. and no managerial experience whatsoever.
Here is the sticky wicket - in a recent meeting I had to disagree with my supervisor. The Council occasionally enacts policies that impact hospital operations, yet the ordinance explicitly is only applicable to ambulance services. And the bylaws of the Council do not designate any authority over members, they just define council membership and basic parliamentarian rules (members needed for quorums, votes, etc.). The disagreement was when a council member argued (in a very heated debate amongst members) that the hospitals do not have to abide by any of the policies enacted by the council. The members looked to us to answer the issue. My supervisor disagreed with him, I agreed with him.
My supervisors argument what that membership on the council made any decisions of the body binding on its members. My argument was that the council is just an industry advisory body to the commissioners on EMS related topics, and membership on the council was not contingent on anything other than meeting the membership requirements in the bylaws (so for hospitals ED is open 24/7, provide medical control, and physically located within the county). And the ordinance only provides rules related to ambulance operation, not hospital or members of the council.
So was I right, or was my supervisor? And yeah, I know even if i was right disagreeing with her makes me wrong no matter the facts (which is why I'm working on finding a new job).
For the tl;dr crowd - disagreement with supervisor on whether an industry advisory body to local government can enact binding policies on its member organizations if there is no statutory or bylaw authority spelled out to do so.
If you need more info than I provided, please let me know!
Thanks!
Edited to add for some clarity: If a hospital member were to ignore a policy approved by the Council, the Council members have no authority (or process) to remove that member from the council and no local unit of government has any authority to remove them either. The only way to remove that member would be if the county board revised the bylaws, but that would affect numerous hospitals not just the one in question.
 

Bumping for night crew - hoping some fellow govt teat suckers might have an answer.

Wish I could help but way above my pay and grade.

It doesn't matter if you were right.  Actually, it's worse if you were right.

Godzillamax - I concur with your view.  Advisory committees have no jurisdictional authority.  Policy is established by the department which can review the Advisory committee's suggestion or reject them (with justification).

I sat on one such joint panel that was composed of management and the union.  The union suggested that the department disregard any of the performance appraisals that were given to its members (there were numerous poor or improvement needed appraisals). I pulled the management portion aside and told them that the performance appraisals were civil service rules and that we as an advisory committee did not have the authority to override civil service rules.  It was killed right there and that cockeyed Shit Eating Is Universal proposal died right there.

How is this advisory committee able to enact any sort of policy?  Shouldn't anything coming out of the advisory committee be passed on to the board of commissioners (elected officials) for consideration and approval / adoption?

*not a lawyer, but you might want to find one or go back through the ordinance that outlines the establishment, function, and authority of this advisory committee.

Sorry to say it, but this whole thing sounds like a mess

Yeah, I know. Things are quickly going from bad to worse. All of our colleagues/customers/council members are rapidly realizing she is patently unqualified to do her job so they are coming directly to me with questions/concerns/issues. So I answer their questions. She found out (that i wasn't including her in the process) and issued a requirement that I forward "requests" to her (along with my recommended resolution/response) so she can "vett it" and then be the one to issue the "solution/answer." Already brushing off the ole resume.



 

From what you describe, it's straight forward:  You and the guy dissenting are correct.  The board has no authority to dictate hospital operations.  If an individual hospital wishes to follow the recommendation, that's up to them, however they are equally free to tell the rest of the board to take their opinion and stick it.  What you're describing is a "coalition of the willing."  Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.

Your new supervisor would be wise ask for a briefing from the County attorney concerning the role and limitations to the Board's authority, before she tries something stupid and gets the County sued.

+1 let the cities attorneys answer that question.  The county attorney wasn't at the council meeting?  Our parish attorney (I'm in Louisiana we have parishes) is at every meeting and they usually answer questions regarding the councils authority.

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Great question! The Council was enacted (per the establishment clause in the Ordinance, as well a the initial resolution from the board) to "be an advisory body (apointed by the board) to develop and recommend acceptable practices and protocols for the operation of the EMS System and to establish acceptable medical practice standards for emergency medical services relating to the county EMS system."



The ordinance clearly states that "the ordinance is applicable to all ambulance services operated in the county" and "all ambulance providers and persons subject to this ordinance shall comply with all medical, operational and communications policies and protocols developed by the council."



So the council has authority to enact policy, but it is only applicable to the ambulance providers. And over the four decades it has existed the county board has more and more given it a wide birth to unilaterally enact policy related to EMS without having to come to the board to approve everything.



 

The only individual representing government at any of these meetings is myself and my (new) supervisor. The onlty time the county attorney(s) are involved is if we bring them something for consultation. And the only time the board is involved is when we seek a change to the ordinance or the bylaws (both of which the board would be required to approve), or approval of the ambulance response time standards (which is spelled out directly in the ordinance needing board approval).



 

This whole thing is exactly why nobody and I mean NOBODY "works" for the government.

There is nothing productive in any of this.

and this is all why we are doomed.

This is not a personal attack on you or your job, but why government is way way way way out of control

The proliferation of these unelcted quasi private/public councils, boards, etc. has been a method utilized primarily by local government over the past few decades to circumvent many of the controls/restrictions placed on local government by the electorate. Some of these boards councils wield incredible power/influence and control large sums of money and basically aren't answerable to the citizenry.