Council to determine meeting structure for next term
An upcoming vote will decide whether councillors remain wit their full-day committee of the whole meeting structure, or return to their previous schedule with meetings scattered throughout the week.
By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express
Regional council will soon decide whether to continue its current meeting schedule or return to past practices.
At the April 4 committee of the whole meeting, councillors will consider recommendations for the meeting and governance structure for the 2018-2022 term.
In June 2016, council approved a pilot project that replaced individual committee meetings with a single committee of the whole meeting.
The new system came into effect in September of that year.
Staff has presented council four recommendations to consider for the 2018-2022 term:
– Continue with the current practice of committee of the whole on the first Wednesday of the month and a regular council meeting the following week
– Continue with the committee of the whole structure, but move the regular council meeting to the third week of each month
– Return to the previous standing committee structure using a three-week cycle, with committee of the whole meetings on Thursdays as required
– Return to the previous standing committee structure using a monthly meeting cycle, with committee of the whole meetings on Wednesdays as required
Regional staff did not provide an opinion on its preferred option.
In a staff report, it was noted that the committee of the whole structure allows for councillors to hear all presentations and delegations, discuss agenda items and vote on all recommendations to council.
However, staff also stated the one-week turnaround to regular council meetings poses challenges for finalizing minutes and responding to questions raised during committee of the whole.
There has been a total of 15 committee of the whole meetings since September 2016.
These meetings had an average length of seven hours and four minutes.
Agendas included an average of 29 reports and eight presentations and delegations per meeting.
Regional staff solicited feedback from councillors on the pilot project through a questionnaire. Twenty-three councillors provided responses to questions, although not necessarily each one.
Fifty-nine per cent of councillors who responded indicated they favoured continuing on with the committee of the whole structure.
Twenty of 22 councillors agreed they had adequate time to review the committee of the whole agenda before a meeting while 17 of 19 agreed they had ample time to ask questions of staff.
Twelve of 19 responding councillors believe delegations should only address items on the agenda, while 16 of 19 councillors said the committee of the whole process has lived up to their standards.
Of 22 responding councillors, 19 spoke positively of the council information package initiative.
The council information package is released every Friday, and includes items such as reports, municipal resolutions and memos for staff.
However, only half of councillors felt that the public was aware of the information being shared.