City wants to trim bloated volunteer advisory groups

Hamilton city hall has such a large number of citizen advisory committees that it has cost$9,200 over the last four years just to provide them with refreshments. But members of several of them say their groups still need to exist.

The city has spent more than $400,000 over the last four years on citizen committees and advisory groups. There are 68 volunteer advisory committees more than 20 more than Toronto has and they havetaken up 3,500 in staff hours to generate more than 500 reports.

The city's general issues committee voted Wednesday to disband eight groups whose mandates have finished. It will examine the rest within six months of the new council term, which starts after theOct. 27 municipal election.

YvonneMaracle, a member of the city's Aboriginal advisory committee, says the committees are important for citizen engagement. The staff report recommends merging the Aboriginal advisory committee with the status of women, immigrants and refugees, anti-racism and LGBTQ committees into a new diversity, race relations and equity advisory committee.

Maracle said when her committee members joined, they assumed they were part of a long-term commitment.

"We understand that subcommittees are costly, but the cost of human participation is vital in the development of engaging the public,"Maraclesaid.

"For the Aboriginal people who live in the city, this is such an important statement."

Maracleestimates that her committee has contributed about 900 volunteer hours, worth about $14,000 in manpower.

MarlonPicken, chair of the city'sLGBTQcitizen advisory committee, is also concerned. He likes the idea of letting the committees have a say, which is part of the city's plan.

"I would be in support of this being referred back to staff with clear direction around consultation with the committees currently in place," he said.

The city has 104 boards, agencies, commissions and committees, 68 of which are advisory. Some have more than 20 members and cant pull enough people together each time to have a proper meeting, city clerk Mary Gallagher said.

Toronto only has 45 such groups.

Gallagherrecommends merging a handful of food strategy committees into one, several housing groups into one and establishing just one committee aimed at keepingthe city clean, green and safe. She also advised councillors to limit committee memberships to nine people.

In 2000, the city had 234 advisory groups, said Coun. Russ Powers of Dundas. The city trimmed it to 30. Now its swelled to 68 again.

The clerks department, with the current resources they have, whether theyre dollars or people, cannot continue to physically provide the support thats required, he said.

If council doesnt cut some of the committees, Powers said, the city will have to put more money into it next year.

Here are some of the recommended changes:

• Limiting citizen volunteer membership to two terms.
• Disbanding committees that don't meet at least three times during a four-year council term.
• Disbanding the joint city/school board relations committee (a similar committee already exists), the triple bottom line business criteria task force, the city hall renovations steering committee, the operational review subcommittee, the Parkway implementation committee, and the Hamilton Farmer's Market committee (which will be replaced with a new management board).