City Hall has overhauled the structure of its boards and committees, but not everybody is happy with the changes.
The Environment, Climate Change and Biodiversity Advisory Committee is staging a revolt and refusing City Hall’s directive.
“What I see here is staff making a recommendation to lower their work load,” said committee member Leslie Daniels, during a meeting last Friday. “That shouldn’t be structuring [our] way of operating.”
In a City Hall report, published on November 21, City Clerk Matthew Trennum explains his reasoning for overhauling the system.
He points to the city’s procedural by-laws and code of conduct that set “a high degree of expectations when it comes to procedure, decorum and how the work of these advisory committees may proceed in an open, accessible and transparent way.”
Trennum notes that it’s been a struggle to get all volunteers on the same page.
“Many Committee and Board members were not used to following as strict a focus on procedure, or the requirements for public transparency of meetings (audio and video recordings, and live streaming of meetings for public participation),” he writes.
That’s why, after a thorough review, Trennum has decided to make a few changes.
The Tourism and Community Events Committees, as well as the Lake Gibson Corridor, and Active Transportation Subcommittees were all converted into Community Liaison Groups, that can be called upon at will.
“A Community Liaison Group reports directly to staff to advise on the community perspective, which staff includes in the process of making recommendations directly to Council,” writes Trennum.
These groups have an informal structure, and meetings will no longer be recorded or livestreamed.
While the Environmental Committee and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee will continue to function as usual, members will only get to meet every two months.
“This recommendation is based on the workload, the requirements on staff liaisons, and the additional time for committee working groups to meet and report to the Committee,” writes Trennum.
But members of the Environmental Committee worry that the new schedule will hamper their ability to get anything done.
“We need to be able to discuss things,” said Daniels, during Friday’s committee meeting.
Under the municipal act, committee members are not allowed meet without the city’s supervision.
“We would be having discussions and come to conclusions,” Chair Joe Prytula told other members. “We can only meet if we have a private meeting where we don’t have quorum.”
Councillor Anthony Longo, who also sits on the committee, explained that City Hall is severely understaffed.
“They are — from what we’re being told — stretched many different ways,” he said. “This is a way to alleviate some of their workloads.”
But Prytula does not agree with that reasoning.
“The workload put onto staff is only for them to participate in this meeting for an hour or two,” he said. “We’re not loading them up with work that they’ve got to get back to their desk and go through.”
“We’re not in the business of worrying about your staff problems,” added Daniels. “We’ve known about it for years. If we believe that we need to meet, then they got to figure out a way to do it.”
And thus, committee members unanimously rejected the meeting schedule proposed by City Hall, and they've asked permission to meet 12 times a year.
The matter is set to be discussed further at an upcoming City Council meeting.
