Two town committees may merge

Town council may end up combining the Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) and Committee of Adjustment (CoA) for the sake of efficiency after referring a proposal to do so to the committee level for further consideration.
In a written report received by council at Monday night’s regular meeting, municipal planner Faye Flatt recommended the two committees be combined in order to “streamline processing of applications and referrals, alleviate redundancy, cut down on staff time, and result in enhanced customer service.”
She noted her proposal is based upon “difficulties experienced in regards to achieving quorum and scheduling meetings of PAC.”
Flatt explained that under the Planning Act, town council had in the past established two committees under the Planning and Development division—the CoA and PAC.
Each consists of five members and has its own mandate.
The CoA is a quasi-judicial decision-making body for minor variance, enlargements to legal non-conforming uses, and land severances while the PAC deals with land use issues and other issues as referred.
But because the PAC only meets as necessary, and meetings dates are not pre-determined, arrangements are made on an “ad hoc basis”—often taking up to three weeks or more to organize to ensure a quorum, Flatt noted.
Flatt added she had the same difficulties in her position with the Township of Alberton, prompting that municipality to merge its two committees into one.
“Recognizing that although each committee dealt with specific land issues independent of the other, they were linked to each other by the very nature of their existence and the legislation under which they operated,” said Flatt.
“Creating one committee from the two seemed a logical and natural progression that would bring resolution to the difficulties at hand.”
Flatt said she made a recommendation to a previous council shortly after she was hired by the town, but “no action was taken and regrettably the noted difficulties have continued.”
She stressed one multi-purpose committee would enable consistent scheduling of meetings that will result in:
•decreased potential for absenteeism or lack of a quorum;
•enhanced customer service; and
•streamlined processing of referrals and applications by ensuring issues will be considered within a regimented period of time.
It also would increase the knowledge of committee members in regards to various land use issues and how those issues are related, as well as keeping them current with legislative changes and municipal direction.
And merging the two committees would reduce staff time required to schedule and re-schedule meetings, as well as prepare meeting-associated information (agendas, minutes, follow-up correspondence, etc.)
Council referred the proposal to the Planning and Development executive committee for its recommendation.