Brookings, South Dakota OnBoardGOV homepage

In Brookings, boards and commissions are part of everyday municipal work. Member terms expire. Seats open. Applications come in. The clerk’s office keeps that information accurate, current, and available to the public, even when details span multiple boards and timelines.

Brookings uses OnBoardGOV to manage board and commission records and to receive volunteer applications.

Board and commission records

Before OnBoardGOV, staff managed board and commission information through the familiar mix of spreadsheets, paper files, and email. While that approach worked, it required frequent manual updates and cross-checking, especially when preparing reports or responding to routine questions.

Now, staff maintain board rosters, member terms, and vacancies in a single system. From there, they publish that same information publicly so residents can see which boards exist, who currently serves, and where vacancies may be approaching.

As a result, residents can often find basic board information on their own. At the same time, staff spend less time reconciling information across multiple sources.

Brookings’ public site is available at:
https://onboard.cityofbrookings-sd.gov/

Volunteer applications

Alongside the core OnBoardGOV platform, Brookings uses the Applications module to support how residents apply to serve on boards and commissions.

Residents submit applications online through the same system that holds board and commission information. Applicants indicate which boards they are interested in, and the system receives submissions in a consistent, organized format.

Local reporting noted that the city introduced this approach to make applications easier for residents to submit and easier for staff to manage. Importantly, this setup does not change how applications are reviewed or who makes appointments. Governing bodies retain that authority. Instead, the module supports staff as they receive, track, and organize applications within the broader OnBoardGOV system.

Day-to-day use

In practice, Brookings’ setup supports routine administrative work:

  • Staff update board information once rather than in multiple locations.

  • Over time, staff can more easily monitor term expirations and vacancies.

  • At the same time, applications arrive through a single, consistent channel.

  • For residents, the system centralizes public access to board information.

Throughout this process, clerks and administrators remain responsible for accuracy, compliance, and coordination with elected officials. OnBoardGOV supports recordkeeping and application intake without altering governance processes.

Could OnBoardGOV make your board and committee management easier? Find out with a free demo.