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Committees temporarily suspended to allow for Nanaimo's core review

NANAIMO – Eight committees and commissions have been suspended for three months.

The City of Nanaimo has temporarily suspended eight committees and commissions as it digs into its core services review.

City council decided during an in-camera meeting last week to immediately suspend the work of eight committees and commissions for the next three months. Committees take up a “fair bit of staff time and some overtime” according to Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay, who said in order to complete the core review within a 90-day period, all hands need to be on deck.

The structure of committees will also be looked at in a core services and governance report review.

The Parks and Recreation Commission, Planning and Transportation Advisory Committee and Advisory Committee on Environmental Sustainability are among the groups on pause, while others like the Design Advisory Panel and City Manager Selection Committee have skirted temporary suspension.

Interim city manager Tracy Samra said a lot of committees, commissions and boards have to continue to operate in order to do city business.

She also called it a reasoned, considered decision that has evolved over three years.

Council decided last February to include committees in a core review and there were recommendations on committees in the 2013 Watson Report on governance. Samra said the criticism in the document is there’s an “excessive amount” of committees, commissions and sub-committees within the city structure.

“At this point in time it’s a responsible thing for the city to recess some of the committees so that staff can refocus its energies on the core services review, that we can take a look at a report that has sat on the shelf for a number of years about the corporate governance structure and committee structure for the city so that we can make the best decisions to meet the interest of our citizenship,” she said.

“In no way is there anything that’s going to prevent community members, committee members, commission members from coming forward and having a voice. We’ve made sure of that.”

A press release shows committee business will be divvied among the municipality, with directors responsible for day-to-day issues, the city manager addressing operational issues and council direction for “big picture policy” and operational decisions. Samra said council has committed to additional public participation and will survey the committee and commission members for feedback as part of the core review and its work on the groups’ structure.

Gail Adrienne, chairwoman of the Advisory Committee on Environmental Sustainability, was surprised by the decision. She was supposed to be planning the agenda Thursday morning for an upcoming meeting when she was told it was cancelled with no further meetings until April.

“We were a little taken aback because to suspend the activities of eight different committees for three months means the role we play with council, we can’t do that,” she said, adding the committee just put together a work plan for the year and this means they won't be able to get started until after April.

There's also a “significant interrelationship” between council and committees like environment sustainability. Topics might come to the attention of the committee first, for example, and it's referred in a report to council. She believes the decision will hamper council's effectiveness.

“We understand the importance of a review, we just didn’t think that was going to impact committees that have been functioning for many years and playing an important supporting role to council,” she said.

City Diane Brennan has certain trepidations.

“We have to be cautious when we take steps that for any period of time limit the public's input into our decision making,” she said. “I am, however, prepared to wait and see.”

The groups now on hold are: Advisory Committee on Environmental Sustainability, Grants Advisory Committee, Nanaimo Culture and Heritage Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, Planning and Transportation Advisory Committee, Safer Nanaimo Advisory Committee and Social Planning Advisory Committee. The Red/Green Tape Committee is also on hold, although the city notes it hasn't begun.