City cuts committees to improve efficiency

by Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star posted Apr 11, 2014 at 1:00 AM
Some citizens involved in decision-making at Vernon city hall are being handed their walking papers. It’s expected that 15 committees of council will be slashed to seven as part of a restructuring although details of the specific committees have not been released. “We’re letting the committees know what’s happening,” said Mayor Rob Sawatzky, adding that members are being contacted before specifics go public. “We want to treat all of the citizens who have volunteered their time with respect.” The committees, which consisted of volunteer residents, are accessibility, advisory planning, affordable housing, athletic commission, audit, biosolids, board of variance, economic development, environmental, finance, heritage, parking, sister cities, tourism and transportation demand management. The concept of cutting committees first surfaced in the 2013 core services review by KPMG. “There’s too many committees and we’re spending too much staff time and resources on them,” said Coun. Brian Quiring. “In order to improve efficiencies, we need to do this.” That view is also held by Sawatzky. “Many committees duplicated work and some will be combined and when a specific issue comes up, we can form a committee that has a shelf-life until the issue is addressed,” he said. It’s not known how much money the restructured committee model could save the city. Coun. Juliette Cunningham isn’t concerned that major issues will go ignored if there isn’t a separate committee to deal with them. “It will be the responsibility of council to respond to those concerns,” she said. “When you see what we’re doing, it will make a lot of sense.” One of the apparent challenges was finding residents willing to volunteer their time. “We had trouble filling vacancies on committees and some committees couldn’t get a quorum for a meeting,” said Quiring. Beyond council committees, which require mandatory councillor attendance, there are about 14 community committees. It’s not known if they will be reduced in number. “They are free-standing and at the discretion of council whether they want to attend,” said Sawatzky. The restructuring process should be completed by May 1.

City of Vernon committee raises concerns over staff workload

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: March 02, 2012 1:00 AM
Vernon’s committee structure has grown and that has some politicians demanding changes. The city will form a committee to examine the concerns of people with mobility issues. “We have 38 committees already. Can we combine some of these committees?” said Coun. Catherine Lord. “The more committees you have, the more time people spend at them and the less that gets done.” Lord believes too many committees are open-ended in terms of how often they meet, and she would like a specific time span for them to conclude their mandate. “I’d like to see less committees because it costs a lot in staff time.” Mayor Rob Sawatzky admits the city’s desire to be responsive to residents creates challenges in terms of workload. “We want to be engaged with the public but there’s only seven of us,” he said of council members. “There will be more requests for committees and we need to look at it.” Coun. Juliette Cunningham suggests not all committees need to gather once a month. “If you look at the frequency of meetings, it may take some of the pressure off,” she said. The accessibility committee is being created after Independent Living Vernon expressed concerns that residents with mobility issues have difficulties accessing some buildings, transit and gas stations. “This is a fundamental issue,” said Cunningham. “They need to be heard and right now they don’t feel they are being heard.”

Kelowna council asked to scrap its advisory planning commission

By Alistair Waters - Kelowna Capital News Published: January 12, 2012 4:00 PM

Kelowna city council will be asked to officially axe its advisory planning commission, it's housing committee and its women and community advisory committees on Monday.  Just over a month after Mayor Walter Gray, in his inaugural speech, announced all 14 city committees would be reviewed to determine their usefulness, city staff have recommended  the three committees be cut and new terms of reference be established for the rest. There is currently as review of the city's pubic art policy underway so the future of that committee will be determined later. “Council has said it wants committees that have a clear purpose and goals,” said deputy city clerk Karen Needham. “With that in mind, staff have recommended changes to some committees to improve effectiveness, inclusiveness or focus.” She said the review of council committees was undertaken at the request of the new city council to assess and update their objectives. The committees are made up of volunteers from the community who are appointed by council. (more)

Kelowna new mayor wants to axe the APC

Alistair Waters - Kelowna Capital News Published: December 06, 2011 5:00 PM
If Kelowna's new mayor has his way, the city's public committee that vets development proposals before they go to council will cease to exist.  Walter Gray, in his inaugural address following the swearing-in of the new city council Monday night, said he believes there are considerable cost savings and valuable staff time efficiencies to be realized through the elimination of the Advisory Planning Commission.  The commission is made up of members of the public appointed by council to review development proposals and hear from the public, as well as make recommendations to council before the proposals are officially presented to council by city staff. The committee, typical in many municipalities, has been in existence here for decades.  "If (the elimination of the APC is) implemented, this will make for a faster approval process in getting applications to council and to pubic hearing," said Gray, who during the election campaign said he wanted to send a clear message to developers that Kelowna is, in his word, open for business.  He justified his call for an end of the APC, saying "time is money," and that the public is often confused about the role of the APC.  "While the APC has served the development review process and city council well in the past, I believe it's time to do things differently." As a replacement for the APC, Gray is proposing what he calls a design panel, to be made up of volunteer professionals who would look at some applications from a design perspective, but only where deemed appropriate by the city. In addition to his desire to see an end to the APC, Gray has also asked city staff to review all city committees from a cost perspective, to see if they are necessary, of value to the public and how much staff time they take up. "Change is inevitable and constant as our community changes," Gray told a packed house at the Mary Irwin Theatre Monday night. "To move forward, that likely means shedding some committees or taking the time to consider what form of public input is needed by this council today and in the future."