APPENDIX H

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COMMITTEE REORGANIZATION

Clearly define a mandate in a bylaw.
- State the purpose and function of the committee.
- Clarify its delegation to make grants or, alternatively, advise on grants with CRD’s Board making the final determination.
Institute term limits.
- Term limits should be to a maximum of six years, absent exceptional circumstances.
- After a reasonable absence, a member can again become eligible for appointment for another six years in total.
Re-arrange agenda items.
- Resource member items should occur at a set time in the meeting, rather than occurring at the end after other agenda items. This will free-up the resource members to leave meetings while the work of the Committee is conducted that is not related to them. The Committee has already instituted this change on its own.
Reduce numbers and appoint family-and-youth involved individuals.
- The Committee is not required to include elected officials from each participant.
- It is required to have individuals “with experience in education, health, probation or welfare”.
- It may be better served by a smaller group of elected officials and a larger portion of justice-involved individuals who may perform the work of the Committee.
Formalize meetings.
- Meetings must comply with the Community Charter.
- Provisions exist allowing meetings to be closed and should be utilized appropriately.
- Meetings should follow the CRD’s Procedures Bylaw. They should be time limited.
Restrict speaking times.
- Speakers should be restricted to five minutes on an issue absent a vote. Time limits and alternating speaker’s lists should be enforced.
- Members should not have wide-ranging discussions outside the topic on the floor.
Set a grant-application intake procedure.
- Setting and following a transparent grants procedure with defined intake periods and criteria will allow more organizations to be aware of funding and bring a greater range of applications. It will also avoid any potential for allegations – which the writer considers without merit – of bias, overreaching authority, or any other potential impropriety that could be raised under the current model.
- Grant restrictions and conditions are already used by the Committee.
Follow existing policies rather than create its own.
- Adopting existing CRD policies, with reasonable variations approved by the Board, will ensure compliance with privacy, safety, information management, and expenses.
Reduce meetings.
- Four to six meetings per year of two to three hours in duration would be ideal, if the purpose is to connect service providers and educate elected officials on justice issues. This will ensure more fulsome attendance.
Maintain a volunteer registry.
- If the Committee is to continue work, such as specific research projects, it should utilize volunteers where appropriate.
- CRD is equipped to insure volunteers and to provide a corporate umbrella for recruiting volunteers.
Maintain records consistent with the obligations of a public authority.
- Records should be stored at CRD. This would avoid lengthy annual reports and a potential loss of critical historical documents and information.
- Meeting meetings should be publicly available and accessible.
Consolidate finances in the CRD.
- CRD regularly operates funds for committee and commission use and provides limited float chequing accounts for small expenses. There is no need for the Committee or CRAT to have a separate bank account.
- Approved grants can be issued directly from CRD, as can honorariums and reimbursement of Committee expenses.