Thunder Bay administration wants to shake up the committee process

Thunder Bay city council meetings could look quite a bit different this fall.

Currently, sitting councillors meet Mondays, first as committee of the whole to consider and debate agenda items.

Committee of the whole meetings are followed by meetings of city council, where decisions are finalized through ratification.

However, city administration is recommending doing away with the format and replacing committee of the whole — which is comprised of all 12 city councillors and the mayor — with smaller, more-specialized standing committees of four councillors and the mayor.

Standing committee recommendations would still be finalized at a 13-member meeting of city council.

The standing committee format, Power said, is used in "many municipalities" across Ontario.

"One of the things I would say from a public perspective is, right now when you turn on the TV on a Monday night to look at a council meeting, you don't know necessarily are they sitting as committee of the whole, or are they sitting as city council," Thunder Bay City Clerk Krista Power said. "That may make no difference to you as the member of the public, but they're either sitting to consider things or they're sitting to decide, which are two very different things."

Changes to meeting schedule

"Standing committees would allow members of council to receive information, to provide feedback and input that then becomes a final recommendation to city council, so you would know looking at the meeting," Power said. "There's five members sitting there, they're considering receiving feedback, consulting on a matter. When there's 13 sitting there, they are deciding."

The proposed changes were presented as a first report on Monday, and councillors will have a chance to debate and vote on the proposal on June 23. Power said if council approves them, the meeting schedule would change, too.

"One thing we are proposing is a switch to Tuesdays to allow for a greater number of meetings because we do have lots of holiday Mondays," she said, adding that standing committees and city council meetings would alternate weeks.

The standing committees would focus on finance and administration, quality of life and growth.

"It's useful in efficient decision-making," said Joe Lyons, director of Western University's Local Government Program. "It also allows for some specialization among council members depending upon their interests.

"The logic of having standing committees is that issues will be kind of fully considered at the standing committee level, and councillors maybe who haven't had the time to fully grasp the complexities of an issue can at least have some assurances that it was dealt with appropriately at the standing committee level."

However, Lyons said there are some potential disadvantages to the format.

Advisory committees could be dissolved

"If politicians come to see the departments that the standing committees mainly deal with as their own, sort of like fiefdoms, then that can lead to siloed decision-making and maybe kind of greater political interference in decision making," he said.

Power said the city is also recommending doing away with 10 advisory committees:

• Anti-Racism and Equity Advisory Committee.
• Audit Committee.
• Clean, Green and Beautiful Committee.
• Community Communications Committee.
• Community, Youth, and Cultural Funding Appeals Committee.
• Coordinating Committee.
• Downtown Fort William Revitalization Committee.
• EarthCare Advisory Committee.
• Official Recognition Committee.
• Waterfront Development Committee.

Power said there have been issues with recruitment and retention of committee members, and having enough members present to run committee meetings.

"One of the things I would say is we're seeing, across Ontario, a move away from the standard, sit-around-the-table-to -have-a-conversation [approach] to a more robust grassroots, engage with the community in a different way, meet people where they are at in order to get good feedback about the programs and services the city offers."

Power said advisory committees have certain requirements and parameters under the Municipal Act.

"I think it's important to note we have lots of committees within the city that aren't a council advisory committee," she said. Power added they are looking at whether some of these committees can still exist,"without all of the confines and the rules of a city council advisory committee."

Lyons, meanwhile, said advisory committees can be "tricky."

"The goal of these advisory committees is to enhance citizen participation and engagement," he said. "But if you're only getting the same people serving on these committees year over year, and they tend to be more kind of like self-selected activists or people who really care a lot about that issue, then you're not necessarily getting like a representative view of the population."

If council does vote in favour of the proposals on June 23, Power said administration would work to have the changes implemented in the fall.