Council committees re-organized to support strategic priorities

Summary

Nanaimo City Council has taken an important and strategic step forward following their July 11 decision to re-organize committees. After a review of the previous committee structure, Council has decided to:

  • Retain five existing committees
  • Terminate seven committees
  • Convert one committee to a sub committee
  • Terminate one committee, but retain and reassign members
  • Amalgamate two committees into one, with members retained
  • Reconstitute three committees, and
  • Create two new committees

For a full listing of committee names and changes, please review the attachment material included with the online version of this news release.

Link to Strategic Plan: Taking responsibility to be an excellent municipal government.

Key Points

  • The changes introduced to the City Committee structure include a number of benefits including, opportunities for integration across areas of common interests and the inclusion of focus areas like environment within all committees.
  • The new committee structure reflects policy recommendations contained in the Core Services Review and from feedback from the public. Committee members will consider additional forms of input as they resume their work.
  • The first order of business for all returning, revised, amalgamated or new committees is to consider their terms of reference and report back to Council with a clear mandate and operating guidelines.

Quotes

"The recently adopted Committee structure approved by Council is a positive step in streamlining the committees to align with our Strategic Plan. Going forward will require cooperation, patience and oversight to ensure the Committees work effectively. Council and staff will look to review and assess the inner workings of the Committees and make necessary adjustments if and where deemed appropriate. "

Councillor
City of Nanaimo

Quick Facts

  • Committees are accountable to Council and support members in carrying out their duties under the Community Charter. Once established, Committees enable the public and experts to provide Council with advice, ideas and feedback that is aligned strategically with their vision, values and priorities.
  • For the City's largest departments, committees play an important role. Departments like Engineering and Public Works rely on committees for input on transportation planning, water distribution, sanitary sewer, environmental sustainability, etc.
  • 2013 Watson Report recommended reviewing the City's committees. All Committees were temporarily recessed while the Core Service Review was undertaken. Once the review was completed, attention returned to the work of the committees using an approach aligned with Council's priorities.

Attachments

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Contact:

Tracy Samra
CAO
City of Nanaimo
250-755-4401

Print News Release

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