Guelph City Council’s new governance structure could mean less opportunity for the public to have its say before council.
The goal is to eliminate long meetings, which council, staff and focus groups that were part of a staff survey all feel is an issue.
Guelph is scheduled to switch to a committee of the whole governance structure in September, where all councillors will sit to receive, discuss, debate and hear delegations on committee-related material at 2 p.m. on the first Monday of each month.
Full council would then meet at 6:30 p.m. on the last Monday of each month.
The goal is to cut down on repetitive dialogue, which staff feels could also be enhanced by limiting delegations.
Staff is recommending in a report heading to council on June 27 that if a delegation speaks at the committee of the whole meeting, the same delegation cannot then speak at the full council meeting unless new information has arisen.
“Delegations that spoke at Committee of the Whole may delegate to Council only if new information has become publicly available,” says recommendation 10 of the Meeting Management Review Report.
A staff survey of city council showed that repetitive delegations, often leading to council meetings going late into the night, was one of the concerns of councillors, who answered the survey anonymously.
High level city staff also felt that “meetings go too long” in the survey.
“Should not be hearing delegations at 11 p.m.,” was one councilor’s comment.
“Volume and repetition of delegations – more is not better,” was another comment.
“Encourage public there is more impact to organize and appoint three spokespersons,” another said.
The report highlights that long meetings are “not conducive to good governance,” resulting in possible “decision fatigue.”
In total the report has 21 recommendations related to the implementation of the committee of the whole system.
