THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay’s city council will take a look inward at its own processes, launching a "continuous improvement" process to review its efficiency and procedures.
The proposal from Coun. Mark Bentz earned the support of most of his colleagues Monday, but drew some sharp disagreement from others, who worried the process could be politicized.
Bentz framed the initiative as a governance best practice, saying it had become the norm for well-run boards in the corporate sector.
The continuous improvement process will see city administration develop a survey for city councillors with questions “related to progress on efficiency of meetings, decision making and council procedures.”
Results would be compiled for review by council to identify challenges and potential opportunities for improvement.
“My experience is that these processes work well,” Bentz said. “I think it would help us serve the public better. It helps boards in ways that you don’t expect.”
City clerk Krista Power said such improvement processes weren’t uncommon for other city councils, but warned the exercise could be more complicated for representative bodies than in the corporate sector.
“One of the things I think is important to note is that it’s very hard to evaluate democracy,” said Power, citing feedback from clerks across the province. “It’s easy to evaluate the [success] of a company; evaluating the success of democracy can be relative to each of your opinions.”
Councillors Shelby Ch’ng and Cody Fraser worried the process could be politicized or used as a way to police councillors’ behaviour.
Ch’ng raised concerns that sample questions shared by supportive councillors had included several policy questions such as how the city should spend its money.
Reached Tuesday, Ch’ng said council does have numerous procedural problems, with meetings often lasting longer than necessary and councillors embarking on lengthy digressions. However, existing rules of order could address those issues if properly enforced, she said.
“I have some real concerns” about the continuous improvement suggestion, she told her colleagues Monday. “I don’t understand [how] this would produce anything useful for this council. At first blush, you’d think, of course, we should all take a look. But we’re all here because of our individuality and what we represent.”
Fraser agreed.
“I’m scratching my head over the intent of it and what we are to gain from the process,” he said. “This is democracy, and how I choose to handle myself is arguably representative of my constituents – they’ve chosen me to sit here. I don’t think I would change my behaviour because of a self-assessment tool.”
Bentz reassured the group his initiative was about governance and best practices, not politics. The at-large councillor told Tbnewswatch he had no major qualms about how council was operating this term, though “certain areas of concern might start showing up” from councillors’ feedback.
He wasn’t surprised the continuous improvement proposal had generated some pushback.
“The reactions are typical of any board this is presented at,” he said.
Coun. Andrew Foulds argued Monday there was no real risk in giving the exercise a try.
“It may come back to us with information we choose not to use,” he said, but noted that wasn’t uncommon. “I don’t view this as behaviour modification. Whatever the results are… I’m going to take the opportunity to reflect on my own practice.”
The proposal ultimately passed with councillors Ch’ng and Giertuga voting against. Administration will now be tasked with developing a survey for council’s approval, and carrying out the process by the conclusion of the 2021 budget process.
