Councillor opinions remain divided if the town will move to a full-fledged committee structure.
A lengthy discussion was held on Oct. 18 following the tabling of a report by town manager Lisa Hass and clerk Kathryn Ironmonger. It outlined the pros and cons of various committee structures in use by municipalities.
In short, a committee is simply a group of people selected by an organization to carry out or oversee a specific function.
The report by Hass and Ironmonger noted one of the problems in understanding committees and their operation is they may appear to have the same role as staff, and work of the committee and staff sometimes overlap.
However, it is council that ultimately decides the method of appointing committees.
“The present structure enables department heads to present their reports in which they have the ability to provide as much detail as they deem appropriate to apprize council on the matter at hand.”
The report said the current setup allows dialogue between council and staff and suggested a committee-of-the-whole format would increase procedural formality rather than decreasing it.
The four options presented included:
– status quo;
– using a three-member committee structure for one year;
– establish one committee;
– status quo plus five department head meetings to utilize the dates currently set aside for planning meetings.
Discussion did not even begin until 9:45pm but Mayor Lou Maieron wanted to give all councillors a chance to speak.
Councillor Barb Tocher said the goal is to increase dialogue between staff and council. She did not support a structure with more than two councillors (including the mayor) on a committee. She preferred all department heads and all councillors meeting either quarterly, or every other month.
Councillor Deb Callaghan understood the mayor’s comments that council appears to be constantly dodging icebergs.
She believes with staff providing more information, “a lot of those phone calls and icebergs could be avoided.”
She likes the idea of the committee system, “but I’m not sure it’s the right fit for us.”
She noted other councillors are welcome to sit in on those committees.
“If that is the case, why not just have a committee of the whole … We have to be on the same page, and I don’t think two councillors attending a meeting with the mayor will make that happen.”
Callaghan cited Erin’s fire committee, where the mayor and a councillor are on the committee. “Some information was coming back … But even with two members of council sitting on the committee, not all the information was coming back to council as a whole.”
She advocated there should be no more “no report” reports from department meetings. “You can’t tell me there is nothing that council should be aware of.”
She said if council is going to meet with department heads, then staff need to provide council with information it needs.
The problem she has with committee meetings is councillors may not remember they are not staff. “Council exists to govern and make policies, not to administer the day-to-day activities of the municipality.”
“On the flip side, staff have to realize that council, and particularly the mayor, are answerable to the ratepayers. The less that staff report to council, the more icebergs will appear.”
Callaghan wants council to meet with department heads monthly. She recommended trying that approach for a year, and if it does not work, “then maybe committees would be the solution.”
Councillor Josie Wintersinger said, “I’m not happy with the lack of information.”
While favouring the committee system, she has concerns with what was proposed because only three councillors were on the committee.
She said when there disagreements with a staff person, they will come to council – but by then it is sometimes too late.
“We’ve had a few incidents of this now, and I find it very frustrating.”
She thanked planner Sally Stull for the information provided to another portion of the meeting regarding an appeal to a site alteration permit.
“It’s the first time something’s come ahead, where we felt we had some control over a particular situation before it became a disaster,” she said.
Wintersinger agreed with Callaghan, “There is no such thing as no report. If you’ve worked here for two weeks, you’ve done something. I find many a time that staff often have the answers, but if you don’t ask the right question you don’t get told what it is. I’m getting fed up with doing that.”
Councillor John Brennan appreciated the analysis.
“My problem with the committee system is that as originally envisioned, it would reduce us to one full council meeting a month.”
The alternative, he said, would be to have two committee meetings and two council meetings. “It would mean there would be something going on every week of the month.”
He was not thrilled with the committee structure as proposed, based on the number of representatives. He said the option of the meetings with the department heads, “is probably better than what I was envisioning.”
Brennan agreed about “no reports” but said council has never put that onus on staff.
“We’ve accepted all along that they come to council when they need something that council has to act upon.” He would like to see the reports, “but in all fairness, it was not something we required in the past.”
Brennan anticipated the department head meetings would likely happen every month rather than every other month.
Maieron read from his typewritten commentary. He considers the matter important especially since the current council is now a year into its mandate.
“We’re supposed to be a team here,” Maieron said.
Regardless of the sport, Maieron said, “There are different people who play different roles. To an extent, I see everyone wanting to play the same roles. Not everyone is the quarterback … We all have strengths; we all have weaknesses.”
The reason Maieron said he prefers the committee system, is it gives the opportunity to sit with staff and discuss what is coming forward. He said the committee system is used extensively by municipalities in Wellington County.
He provided information on Minto and Wellington North’s committee structures.
Maieron said council needs a mechanism to discuss issues with staff in a manner that fosters resolution. “The current council system and operation in my view really isn’t achieving this.”
He suggested a number of issues have come to council with little advance notice.
Maieron said notice is needed to be able to provide the leadership council was elected to accomplish. “Rather we are attempting to fix what is not working every meeting, rather than looking forward.”
He said there are a number of outstanding issues that need to be resolved. “We’re either putting off issues until they hit us back in the face, or we are not giving staff clear direction on how to deal with these issues.”
He noted the advantage to the committee system is all of the options can be discussed, and then a strong recommendation provided to council. He suggested the committee system might allow for more information to be presented and provide a period to mull over the matter before a council meeting where a decision would be made.
Maieron added committee recommendations do not ensure automatic endorsement by council. He said he was surprised the existing fire committee has no terms of reference.
He said council agreed the current system needs work and councillors wish to be informed as a group. He also believes council agendas should be available earlier to provide more time prior to meetings.
He believes the committee structure depends on trusting fellow councillors.
“Whether we go to the committee structure or not, we still have to trust each other. I’m speaking from the heart here. We’re all doing the best for our community. We need the information to be able to do so.”
He said something is needed to be able to manage better rather than deal with situation after situation.
Maieron realized there are outstanding issues to be dealt with, but wanted to be able to plan for the future.
After considerably more discussion, Maieron presented a motion to defer discussion pending a staff report regarding department head and committee of the whole meetings.
