Tuesday January 8 marked the first time MV Council met as a committee of the whole under its new Procedural By-Law 2018-117 passed December 20. (Scroll down for link.) Readers will recall that Mayor Love in her inaugural address at the Dec. 3 Council meeting said MV would adopt this format in the interests of efficiency and cost-savings. The concept means that all members of Council attend a single day of Committee meetings on the first Tuesday of the month starting at 10 a.m. The recommendations from the Council in Committee meeting will be brought forward at a Regular Council meeting on the third Tuesday of the month starting at 4 p.m. CAO/Clerk Sue Klatt says the new format is still a work in progress as members of Council, Township staff and Community Committees all need to become accustomed to the procedure.
Council in Committee format – first Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m.
Standing Committees of Council are shown below, along with the member of Council responsible. All members of Council sit on each committee. If the committee representative is absent (e.g. Councillor Shulist was away on Jan.8), the Mayor or another member of Council acts as chair for that part of the meeting.
- Operations (Roads and Waste Management) – Councillor Bromwich
- Operations (Water/Wastewater & Facilities) – Councillor Shulist
- Fire, Protection and Emergency Management – Councillor Peplinski
- Recreation Community Development – Councillor Willmer
- Committee of Adjustment – Mayor Love
- Finance and Administration – Mayor Love
The Council in Committee Agenda includes materials for all committees. This meant the Agenda on Jan. 8 was 355 pages long. The public portion of the meeting began at 10 a.m. and ended at 4:15 p.m. with a short morning break and a break for lunch.
Public input
Materials from Standing Committees and delegation request forms must be submitted no later than 12 p.m. on the Wednesday prior to the meeting. Under the new Procedural By-Law up to four delegations are allowed at meetings of either Council in Committee or Regular Council, so in theory the public could have input up to eight times per month. Previously up to three delegations had been allowed at each of the seven Committee or Regular Council meetings affording the public a chance to appear before Council up to a theoretical maximum of 27 times per month. Also on the subject of public input, there is no provision in the Procedural By-Law for a Public Question Period at meetings unlike the previous Procedural By-Law. It appears that the new Council has removed this entitlement.
The Current will report separately on some of the matters discussed at the Jan. 8 meeting.
Click HERE to read 2018-117- Procedural By-Law for full details of Committee of the Whole structure
