Revised Council Meeting Schedule

The Striking Committee recommends:

(1)the adoption of the report (March 12, 1999) from the City Clerk, subject to:

(i)amending Appendices "A" and "F", referred to in Recommendation No. (1), to provide that:

(a)the day before a Council meeting be designated for meetings to commence in the morning for the Audit Committee and the Budget Advisory Committee, when required, on the understanding that such Committees would report through the following cycle of meetings, unless directed otherwise; and

(b)the week before Council meetings, when no Standing Committee meetings are shown in the Schedule of Meetings, be reserved for meetings of the City's agencies, boards and commissions, as well as the various Council-appointed task forces, special committees and sub-committees; and

(ii)amending Recommendation No. (3) to now read as follows:

"(3)the adjournment time for the third day of Council meetings be extended from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., subject to the City Clerk being directed to:

(a)review the results of Council's decision at its meeting held on March 2, 3 and4, 1999, to eliminate on a trial basis, for the next two regular meetings of Council (to be held on April13,14and15, 1999, and on May 11, 12 and 13, 1999), the dinner break and extend the afternoon session until 7:30 p.m., at which time Council will recess until the next morning; and

(b)submit a report thereon to the Striking Committee for submission to the meeting of Council scheduled to be held on June9, 1999.

The Striking Committee reports, for the information of Council, having requested the City Clerk to:

(i)revise the aforementioned Appendices "A" and "F" to reflect the foregoing recommended amendments thereto by the Striking Committee, and submit such revised version to Council for consideration with the foregoing matter; and

(ii)submit a report to the next meeting of the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee on whether the Province of Ontario plans to change the date of the City of Toronto municipal election in 2000 to the third Monday in October.

The Striking Committee submits the following report (March 12, 1999) from the City Clerk:

Purpose:

To recommend a revised 1999-2000 schedule of meetings for Council, its Standing Committees and Community Councils, in consideration of the new Council-Committee structure adopted by Council.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

There are no funding implications.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1) option 1(a) (Appendix "A"), based on a monthly meeting cycle for City Council and Committees, be approved and that the revised 1999-2000 schedule of meetings, commencing on June 14, 1999, and submitted as Appendix "F" to this report, be adopted;

(2) a copy of the revised 1999-2000 schedule of meetings be circulated to the City's agencies, boards, commissions, Council-appointed task forces, special committees and sub-committees with a request that wherever possible, they avoid scheduling meetings which conflict with City Council meetings and the Standing Committees to which they report;

(3) the adjournment time for the third day of Council meetings be extended from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.; and,

(4) the appropriate City Officials be authorized and directed to take the necessary action to give effect to these recommendations, including bringing forward a by-law introducing necessary amendments to the Procedural By-law.

Council Reference/Background/History:

On November 16, 1998, the Striking Committee considered a report from the City Clerk (November12, 1998) on the 1999 schedule of meetings. The staff recommendation was to adopt a meeting schedule based on a two and three-week meeting cycle for Council, based on the current hierarchical committee structure (i.e., Standing Committee - Budget Committee - Strategic Policies and Priority Committee relationship), and that the Clerk would report further on a revised schedule once a revised Council-Committee structure is adopted. The Striking Committee recommended to Council the adoption of the staff report recommendations, as amended by the Committee.

In consideration of the fact that the Council-Committee structure had not yet been resolved, City Council subsequently approved a schedule of meetings, based on the current four-week meeting cycle, to the end of July 1999, or until the new Council-Committee structure was adopted by Council, whichever is sooner. At its February 2, 3 and 4, 1998, meeting, Council adopted a new governance structure for implementation in June 1999.

It should also be noted that Council, at its meeting held on March 2, 3 and 4, 1999, adopted a motion to revise the Council meeting times for the next two regular Council meetings (April 13, 14 and 15 and May 11, 12 and 13) such that the meeting time for the first two days of the meeting will be 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., instead of 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., 2:00 p.m.- 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

This report recommends a revised meeting schedule for the remaining term of City Council (June 1999 - October 2000).

Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:

The Revised Committee Structure:

The revised committee structure adopted by City Council is comprised of nine committees, in addition to the Community Councils, including:

-Policy and Finance Committee,

-Administration Committee,

-Planning and Transportation Committee,

-Economic Development and Parks Committee,

-Works Committees,

-Community Services Committee,

-Striking Committee,

-Nominating Committee, and

-Audit Committee.

The new structure incorporates a number of characteristics that will influence the revised meeting schedule, including:

-a "flatter" non-hierarchical structure,

-fewer Standing Committees, and

-mutually exclusive membership on the standing committees (except for the Finance and Policy Committee).

It is assumed that under the new structure there will be far fewer referrals between Committees since the functional responsibilities will be more clearly delineated (through the Procedural By-law). The new structure also establishes a Budget Advisory Committee to assist the Policy and Finance Committee in developing the annual capital and operating budgets. The CAO and Treasurer are preparing a report on a budget protocol and schedule for the 2000 capital and operating budget process. Therefore, the Budget Advisory Committee has not been factored into the meeting schedule.

The City Clerk's and Chief Administrative Officer's (CAO) offices will be organizing orientation sessions for Members and senior staff for the new Standing Committees prior to the structure's implementation in June.

Schedule Assumptions and Principles:

In designing a schedule of meetings, a number of key assumptions and considerations are necessary.

Committee Assumptions:

-the Council meeting schedule is established for City Council, Community Councils, and those Standing Committees established through the Procedural By-law and which need to meet on a regular basis;

-the Audit, Striking, Nominating and Budget Advisory Committees meet on a less regular basis and thus, are not included in this schedule;

-the Board of Health is a special purpose body and not a Standing Committee of Council and is not included in this schedule, although it reports directly to City Council; and

-special purpose bodies of the City and discretionary committees of City Council, including special committees, sub-committees and task forces, are not included in the City Council meeting schedule and are expected to make their own meeting arrangements in consideration of the adopted Council meeting schedule.

Meeting Considerations:

-the need for frequent enough City Council meetings to permit decision-making that is not over duly delayed;

-the need for Members to be able to attend other Standing Committee meetings which, therefore, generally should not be scheduled concurrently, or if they are, should ensure adequate time for other Councillors to attend a portion of the meeting;

-the Community Councils can meet concurrently and may require up to two days per cycle for meetings;

-the need to ensure adequate time to permit report preparation by City staff, committee agenda and report management by the Secretariat staff, and review by Members, staff and the public;

-the provision of time for Members to tend to constituency matters and attend other meetings;

-the need to accommodate a summer break;

-the recognition of days and times of religious significance;

-the general principle of not scheduling meetings on Friday's to allow for the scheduling of agency, board and commission meetings (e.g., TRCA, GTSB), unless necessary as a result of statutory holidays and religious days; and,

-the recognition of the preeminence of Council meeting days and that other meetings should not be scheduled during the three Council days per month.

Principles are required to guide the development of options and assist the selection of a preferred schedule. The following principles are to be used for the revised meeting schedule.

-The schedule should facilitate a timely procedural process for effective decision-making by City Council.

-The schedule should be easy to understand and follow by Members, the public and staff.

-The schedule should provide enough flexibility and free time to allow Members to address their other responsibilities (e.g., task forces, special purpose bodies, constituency work).

-The schedule must be achievable by Clerk's Secretariat staff given current and projected resources.

Meeting Schedule Options:

Various meeting cycle options were reviewed, including a four-week, three-week, and two-week Council meeting cycle. The two and three-week Council meeting cycle previously recommended in the Clerk's report is no longer under consideration since it was designed to address the current hierarchical committee structure which will be replaced with the new structure. Appendices "A" through "E" show typical two month schedules for these options. No options were examined in any detail which extended the meeting cycle longer than four weeks as this would begin to undermine the ability of Council to conduct City business in a timely manner given the volume of work flowing through the legislative process.

(a)Four-Week Council Meeting Cycle:

This option generally replicates the existing meeting schedule which is now familiar to Members, staff and the public. Community Councils, Standing Committees and City Council would all continue to meet on monthly basis. This is shown as option 1(a) in Appendix "A". The new Standing Committees were assigned meeting days based largely upon the current days assigned to their existing counterparts while recognizing that referrals between Committees, although minimal, need to be accommodated. City Council would continue to meet for up to three days per session starting on a Tuesday. The Tuesday starting day, under the current schedule, has presented a challenge to the Secretariat staff to prepare and distribute the Council agenda with one fewer day to do so, but the "free" week prior to the Council (under this option) could alleviate some of the pressure on the Secretariat. No committee meetings would be scheduled for Fridays, unless religious and public holidays force a shift in the schedule. This option would lead to six City Council meetings scheduled for June-December 1999. Standing Committee meeting days would also total six days during this time.

A variation on this option would schedule concurrent Standing Committee meetings to provide more free time for other meetings and business. This is shown as option 1(b) in Appendix "B". Mutually exclusive membership on the Standing Committee (except for Finance and Policy Committee) will allow concurrent meetings to be accommodated within the schedule. Concurrent meetings could have staggered start times on the same day to allow Members of sitting committees to attend portions of another committees meeting.

(b)Three-Week Council Meeting Cycle:

In this option City Council, Standing Committees and Community Councils would meet every three weeks and some committee meetings would be concurrent. This cycle is shown as option 2 in Appendix "C". City Council would meet every three weeks for two days per session starting on Wednesday. This option would lead to seven City Council meetings scheduled for June-December 1999 (but fewer total hours of Council meeting time as compared to the monthly schedule). Standing Committee meeting days would also total seven days in the year.

This option would continue to put extraordinary pressure on the Secretariat Unit to accommodate agenda preparation, production, printing and distribution time lines. The three-week cycle would place Secretariat staff in a position of having to prepare agendas for the next cycle of committee meetings while still preparing the Committee Report from that last meeting cycle for the Council agenda. The re-organized Secretariat Unit could not meet the agenda time lines suggested by this option.

Staff investigated a variation of this option with a three-week Council meeting cycle and monthly Standing Committees and Community Councils meetings, but the schedule would not be synchronized and would eventually lead to unacceptable delays between a Committee meeting and a Council meeting.

(c)Two-Week Council Meeting Cycle:

In this option City Council would meet every two weeks to better distribute its total workload, whereas the Standing Committees and Community Councils would continue to meet once per month. This is shown as option 3(a) in Appendix "D". City Council would meet generally every second and fourth week of the month. All the Standing Committees (shown shaded in Appendix "D"), with the exception of the Administration Committee and Policy and Finance Committee, would report to one Council meeting (also shown shaded in Appendix "D"). Similarly, all the Community Councils and the Administration and Policy and Finance Committees would report to the second Council meeting. Based on a review of the last few Council meetings, this split of reporting relationships would represent a relatively balanced division of workload between the two sets of Council meetings with two Council days per session being scheduled.

This option would result in 12 City Council meetings between June - December 1999 (the equivalent of six meetings when compared to the 4-week schedule option) and more total hours of Council time in session (as compared to the monthly schedule). There would be six Standing Committee meeting days between June - December 1999 (same as for the monthly schedule).

A variation on this option would schedule concurrent Standing Committee meetings to provide more free days for other meetings and business. This is shown as option 3(b) in Appendix "E".

The two-week meeting cycle would mean fewer free days as compared to the monthly schedule (unless the concurrent option is considered) and could, at first, be somewhat confusing to Members, the public and staff. It would also place greater pressures on Secretariat staff to produce two sets of Certificates of Amendments and Council Minutes much more frequently. The division of reporting relationships to different Council meetings could lead to confusion and could open up the legislative process to abuse by matters being "fast-tracked" to Council by a Committee before its proper turn.

A Revised 1999 Meeting Schedule:

In considering the principles outlined earlier in this report, option 1(a), based on the monthly schedule and shown in Appendix "A", best satisfies all the principles. Continuing the existing schedule cycle facilitates an acceptable procedural time line, is familiar to Members, the public and staff, and allows more free days for other City business. Given the changes to the Council-Committee structure, time is needed to adjust to these changes before further changes are introduced (i.e., a new meeting cycle). A concurrent meeting schedule is not recommended since it will infringe upon Members ability to attend other committee meetings to follow and participate in issues (even if a staggered starting time is used to permit Members to attend a portion of the meeting).

The three-week meeting cycle option cannot be adequately supported by the Secretariat given current resources. The option of two-week Council meetings would also be difficult on Secretariat staff and would be confusing to Members, staff and the public, and could be subject to procedural abuses that would undermine any benefits gained through this model.

Efforts are underway to reduce the length of Council meetings by removing unnecessary business from the Council agenda (through Legal Services investigation of delegation authorities) and improving the legislative process (under review by the City Clerk).

Section 11(5) of the Procedural By-law specifies that Council shall adjourn at 4:00 p.m. of the third day of a meeting. Given that the Council has waived this provision at the last two Council meetings, it is recommended that the by-law be amended to change the third day adjournment time to 6:00 p.m.

Appendix "F" to this report sets out the revised meeting schedule for the remaining term of Council (1999-2000) based on the monthly meeting cycle. The new schedule would commence on June 14, 1999, to permit the completion of the Council cycle with the June 9, 10, and 11, 1999, Council meeting, under the existing structure. It is recommended that the revised Council meeting schedule as shown in Appendix "F" be adopted by City Council.

The revised Council meeting schedule, as adopted by City Council, will be posted to the City's Internet site. The City Clerk's Office is developing a comprehensive reference guide on the Internet for the meetings of Council, Standing Committees, Community Councils, Special Committees, sub-committees, agencies, boards and commissions, and task forces.

Conclusions:

The new committee structure makes it easier to schedule Council meetings and its various committees. This report recommends the continuation of the monthly meeting schedule for the balance of the current term of Council. This monthly meeting cycle is already familiar to Members and the public, and will free up more days per month for other business.

Contact Name:

Peter Fay, Senior Policy and Planning Analyst, City Clerk's Division

Telephone: (416) 392-8668E-mail: pfay@toronto.ca

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The Striking Committee also submits the following communication (March 16, 1999) from Councillor Pantalone, Trinity-Niagara, and a Member of the Striking Committee:

Recommendation:

That the December 14, 15 and 16, 1999, City Council meeting be moved back to December7,8and9, 1999, and the Policy and Finance Committee be moved from December7,1999, to December 6, 1999.

Background:

I have already sent my regrets for the Monday, March 22, 1999, Striking Committee meeting. Yet, I would like to forward the above recommendation. This recommendation is necessary due to the number of community seasonal celebrations City Councillors are expected to attend at this time of the year. This complication could be avoided by moving the Council meetings back one week.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of my recommendation.