City council on Monday scrapped its current committee system, saying the structure was too onerous and redundant.
Rather than four standing committees - land use, engineering, recreation and strategic priorities - and advisory committees, city council will instead meet as a whole on three Mondays a month at 2 p.m. to receive delegations from the public and presentations from staff.
"Council-in-committee" would not pass resolutions for the next regular council meetings but would act as a forum; however, two standing committees will be created next year: a finance committee and strategic priorities committee "to address high-level strategic budget and policy decisions," wrote city clerk Jay Gilbert in his Dec. 12 report.
As well, two town hall meetings will be held next year to gauge public feedback: Saturday, April 28 (in the morning) and Thursday, Oct. 4 (at night).
In other council news:
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart will return as a Metro Vancouver board director next year but he will have a new city representative at the table with him.
Coun. Mae Reid will fill the second regional chair to replace Coun. Lou Sekora; both have three votes at the board.
As well, Coun. Linda Reimer will take Barrie Lynch's chair on Metro's Labour Relations Bureau, which will start collective bargaining with unions in the new year.
City council is also asking Metro for more Coquitlam representation on regional committees. This year, Coquitlam councillors were on five committees; in 2012, it's asking for four more committees: finance, intergovernmental, regional culture and waste management.
Metro board and committee directors are paid $330 a meeting, and double if it goes over four hours.
As for city statutory committees, council re-appointed Lance Guek, Bertha Rojas and Jack Trumley to the library board and also named Ron Lee and John J.J. McCullough. Nic Dominelli will also return to the board of variance.
Reimer is also the council rep for the library board and the joint family court youth justice committee, while Coun. Craig Hodge will chair the parcel tax review panel.
Other council appointments:
City/school board liaison committee: Coun. Terry O'Neill (chair), Hodge (vice-chair)
Fraser Health government advisory council: Coun. Neal Nicholson
Lower Mainland treaty advisory committee: Coun. Brent Asmundson
Northeast sector environmental stewardship committee: Coun. Neal Nicholson
Tri-Cities early childhood development committee: Coun. Linda Reimer
Tri-Cities homelessness task group: Coun. Selina Robinson
Tri-Cities Solutions by Design: Coun. Linda Reimer
