Thunder Bay’s City Council has tentatively approved major governance structure changes.
Council approved the changes at Committee of the Whole, aiming to improve efficiency, transparency and public engagement.
The new structure still needs to be finalized at city council.
One of the significant changes is the introduction of standing committees, replacing the current advisory committees, such as the Downtown Fort William Revitalization Committee and the Clean, Green & Beautiful Committee.
Three new committees will be established to replace them, including:
- Finance & Administration
- Quality of Life
- Growth
Each committee will consist of four councillors and the mayor.
The committees will meet regularly to review staff reports, provide feedback, and make recommendations to city council.
The hope is that the change will reduce the number of items requiring full council debate.
The work of the committees being dissolved will still continue under the direction of city administration, which will report its findings to the Standing Committees.
A few committees required by law, or that serve a special purpose, will remain, like the Heritage Advisory Committee, and the Mayor’s Taskforce on Building More Homes.
Committee of the Whole will no longer be a weekly discussion meeting for council.
The meeting is being renamed to Special Committee of the Whole.
Moving forward, only budget discussions, closed sessions, and significant issues that would span multiple standing committees will now be discussed at the Special Committee of the Whole meetings.
Other notable changes include the creation of a speaker and deputy speaker role, essentially replacing the chair in discussions.
The city council meeting schedule will also be changing, with meetings set to be held on Tuesdays.
Standing Committees will meet starting at 4:30 p.m., and City Council will start at 6:30 p.m.
The city clerk has also gained expanded authority to decline deputation requests if the matter can be addressed more efficiently by administration.
The hope is that this change will ensure public input remains focused and constructive.
Another change that will speed up council meetings is speaking limits.
The changes would go into place around the start of fall this year.
