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Sicamous council finds efficiency in dropping committee

Council hopes to drop redundancies by shifting committee work to council meetings.

The District of Sicamous is up one committee and down another, sort of.

To deal with the 2012 budget, council has struck up a finance  committee, chaired by Coun. Greg Kyllo. The committee has been busy over the past weeks deliberating community grants and other budget-related expenditures.

“Coun. Kyllo leaves absolutely no stone unturned,” commented Coun. Terry Rysz.

Meanwhile, council has decided to eliminate committee of the whole meetings, and instead integrate the work that would normally go to that committee with regular council meetings, held on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m.

The committee of the whole meetings are typically where councillors tend to speak candidly about business and/or applications intended to go to council. The committee could also reject applications so they don’t go to council.

Mayor Darrell Trouton says the move is a matter of improving efficiency at municipal hall.

“It seemed like we were duplicating a lot of stuff in a committee of the whole meeting, and then we would wait for two weeks in order to move that decision on to a regular council meeting, and then it was double the paperwork, double the work by staff to make these agendas and really, those decisions at committee of the whole meetings weren’t necessarily needed,” said Trouton. “So we felt that it was more transparent for everybody. Most people can make it in the evenings, they can hear the discussions and we can make a decision at that point in time.”

The previous council also did away with the committee of the whole meetings but wound up bringing them back. Trouton says council would still have the option to send something to a committee of the whole meeting if it was deemed necessary. However, for the time being, the plan is to do without.

“We’re  really looking at how we can operate efficiently in our municipal hall, and this was one of the things that will help us be more efficient,” said Trouton. “If it needs to be changed back, we’ll look at it at that point in time, but right now, we feel the only time we need a committee of the whole meeting is periodically.”

 



Lachlan Labere

About the Author: Lachlan Labere

Editor of the Salmon Arm Observer, Shuswap Market, and Eagle Valley News. I'm always looking for new and exciting ways to keep our readers informed and engaged.
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