City of Powell River Council is planning to review a council policy framework to bring policies up to date.
At the April 15 committee of the whole meeting, interim corporate officer Stephen Fleming said he was appearing before the committee to introduce the framework.
“This follows from direction from council on February 6 where there were some council policies brought forward for amendment and the suggestion was to look at them more holistically,” said Fleming. “This is kicking that off, should council choose to take that route.”
Fleming said a review would help council be reintroduced to its policies to make sure they are familiar with them, and that they are current and relevant. The other advantage would be regarding council’s recent switch from the portfolio governance model to the one employee governance model, said Fleming.
“All these policies were introduced under the previous governance model and may not be necessary as council policies under your one employee model,” said Fleming. “This would be another lens to look through.”
Fleming then outlined what a council policy is. He said in a municipality such as Powell River, there are different types.
“We’re looking at council policies, which are the characteristics of matters within your jurisdiction; they convey a common understanding of council direction, they provide consistency with decision making, they relate to your programs and activities and services, and are responsive to local issues,” said Fleming.
He said his report proposes policies be redrafted in a new framework, and recommends that policies be grouped together and brought forward to future committee of the whole meetings. He said this could be done at meetings where there are fewer items on the agenda, and that the committee of the whole format lends itself to good policy discussions among councillors.
“Currently, there are 84 council policies, 75 of which are posted on the city website,” said Fleming. “To sum up, staff propose that the policies be brought forward, grouped in subject matter, and following the review, there be a recommendation that the policy is either updated to reflect current legislation, bylaws, city business practices, or be reintroduced as a departmental or corporate policy, or to rescind the council policy altogether because it is now obsolete,” said Fleming.
The staff recommendation was for the committee to recommend that the policy framework be forwarded to a future council meeting for adoption, and that the committee directs staff to bring forward existing policies in appropriate groupings for review at future meetings.
Councillor George Doubt said it is important to update policies.
“Updating them makes a lot of sense,” added Doubt. “My only concern is we have 84 policies. Reviewing those 84 policies, I’d like to do that in some order of priority.”
Fleming said the review would not take away from other work being done by staff.
“This is something we could work on and bring to council as council agendas allow,” said Fleming.
The committee carried Fleming’s recommendation unanimously.
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