Council has deferred a final vote on proposed changes to its committee structure until all members are present.
The issue was raised at the Nov. 18 council meeting, but deferred at the request of Councillor Sherry Burke because Councillor Dan Yake was absent from the meeting.
The changes are being considered after consultant Nigel Bellchamber, of N.G. Bellchamber and Associates, left the option open when he appeared before the township administration and finance committee on Oct. 28.
Wellington North has several committees, including its building and property committee, that meet regularly and submit reports and recommendations to full council for final decisions. The committees usually have two councillors as members, with recommendations discussed by full council at a later date when final decisions can be made, Bellchamber said in his October report. “During the appointment process for your new CAO (Mike Givens), council asked me to also review committee structure recognizing it had tentatively decided to adopt a committee of the whole process to replace some of its committees.”
Committee of the Whole (CoW) also involves full council, and going to that process was intended to keep councillors fully up-to-date on issues rather than handling reports at formal council meetings and not knowing the full details.
“The committees that could have been replaced with a CoW are the finance and administration committee, building and property committee, public works committee and the fire committee,” Bellchamber said.
“Replacing the four … committees to committee of the whole with what is in effect another committee is neither efficient nor transparent to the public. It still means that recommendations of committee would have to wait for the next meeting of council for action. To the public CoW looks just like council,” he said in his report.
The proposed changes are expected to go back to council on Dec. 16, CAO Givens said.
