Terms of Reference for the Grants Sub-Committee

The Policy and Finance Committee:

(1)recommends the adoption of Recommendations Nos. (1) and (3) embodied in the report (September 13, 1999) from the Chief Administrative Officer; and

(2)reports having appointed Councillors Betty Disero, Ron Moeser and Joe Pantalone to the Grants Sub-Committee.

The Policy and Finance Committee submits the following report (September 13, 1999) from the Chief Administrative Officer:

Purpose:

This report recommends the terms of reference for, and appointment of members to, the Grants Sub-Committee of the Policy and Finance Committee, pursuant to the establishment of the sub-committee through the adoption of Clause No. 5 of Report No. 7 of the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee (adopted by City Council on April 13, 14 and 15, 1999).

Financial Implications:

There are no financial implications arising from the recommendations in this report.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1)the Terms of Reference for the Grants Sub-Committee be adopted as presented in Appendix A attached to this report;

(2)in accordance with section 105 (2) of By-Law No. 23-1998 (Procedural By-Law), the Policy and Finance Committee appoint three of its members to serve on the Grants Sub-Committee; and

(3)the appropriate City Officials be authorized and directed to take the necessary action to give effect thereto.

Council Reference:

On July 20, 1999, the Policy and Finance Committee considered a report from the City Clerk listing the various sub-committees, special committees, advisory committees and task forces which were formed under the previous Council Committee structure and which now relate to the Policy and Finance Committee. The Policy and Finance committee referred the Clerk's report to the Chief Administrative Officer for a report thereon no later than October, 1999.

As noted in the Clerk's report, the Policy and Finance Committee is not required to take action with respect to special committees, advisory committees and task forces. These were established by Council on a project or issue basis and involve the participation of members of Council from more than one standing committee.

The Clerk recommended that the Policy and Finance Committee should determine whether the mandate and membership of any sub-committees (i.e. which include members of the standing committee only) should continue. One such sub-committee was listed in the appendix to the Clerk's report. This is the Grants sub-Committee, which was established pursuant to the adoption of Clause No. 5 of Report No. 7 of the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee, entitled "Legislative Process for Grants Policy and Administration" on April 13, 14 and 15, 1999.

Comments:

Terms of reference have been prepared for the Grants Sub-Committee in accordance with section 105 (3) of the Procedural By-law, which requires that:

"Any recommendation to establish a special committee, task force, advisory committee or sub-committee shall include terms of reference outlining:

(a)the matters to be dealt with;

(b)a reporting date and a sunset date, beyond which Council approval is required for its continuation;

(c)the membership;

(d)the standing committee to which the special committee, task force, advisory committee or sub-committee shall report to;

(e)the reason why the work cannot be undertaken by an existing standing committee; and

(f)identification of the staff and other resources required to support the work of the special committee, advisory committee, task force or sub-committee, and a determination that they are available within existing resources."

Conclusions:

Proposed terms of reference for the Grants Sub-Committee established by council on April 13, 14 and 15, 1999, are attached in Appendix A. The terms of reference have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Procedural By-law. The Policy and Finance Committee must appoint the membership of the sub-committee so that it may commence its mandate.

This report has been prepared in consultation with the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services and the City Clerk.

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Appendix A

 Grants Sub-Committee

Terms of Reference

(1)Responsibilities:

Individual standing committees have responsibility for grants programs, which fall within their respective program mandates.

The Grants Sub-Committee shall deal with corporate-level grants issues and specifically shall:

(a)recommend line item grants that do not fall within the mandate of the standing committees;

(b)recommend allocations from the grants contingency fund to respond to requests that do not meet the criteria of established grants programs;

(c)review the use and continued need for a grants contingency fund;

(d)review below market rental tenancy agreements between the City and non-profit corporations (pursuant to Corporate Services Committee Report 7 (29) as adopted by Council on June 3, 4 and 5, 1998);

(e)review the use and continued need for the practice of below market rental tenancies as an alternative to the provision of direct grants;

(f)review compliance of grants programs with City of Toronto Grants Policy; and

(g)complete the development of benchmarks with respect to grants administration practices (begun under the previous Municipal Grants Review Committee).

(2)Reporting and/or Sunset Date:

The sub-committee shall be dissolved at the end of the term of the current City Council. The sub-committee shall report to the Policy and Finance Committee in June 2000 regarding the completion of the sub-committee's workplan and continuing need for a special purpose grants committee beyond the current term.

(3)Membership:

The sub-committee shall have three members who are drawn from the Policy and Finance Committee. The membership shall be appointed by the Policy and Finance Committee in accordance with section 105 (2) of the Procedural By-law.

 (4)Reporting Relationship:

The sub-committee shall report to the Policy and Finance Committee.

(5)Reason for Establishing the Sub-Committee:

The sub-committee is established to:

(a)allow for in depth review of corporate-wide grants related issues that time would not otherwise permit given the range and number of other matters before the Policy and Finance Committee; and

(b)complete outstanding policy review items from the workplan of the former Municipal Grants Review Committee.

(6)Staff Resources:

The sub-committee shall be supported by the City Clerk and the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services or designate without the need for the appropriation of additional funds.

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Councillor Irene Jones, Lakeshore Queensway, appeared before the Policy and Finance Committee in connection with the foregoing matter.