Advisory Committee Terms of Reference

Town of Shelburne
Terms of Reference Advisory Committees of Council

BACKGROUND

The Town of Shelburne is committed to being an engaged, connected and innovative community.  Committee volunteers play a significant role in building a strong vibrant community that honours our heritage and celebrates our diversity.

Advisory Committee volunteers are public members who are appointed by Council and provide recommendations to Council.

To ensure as many people have the opportunity to serve as volunteers on committees, someone may only be appointed to serve on one Committee at a time per term of Council.

TERM

The term of all committees corresponds with the term Council and on the last business day of October during an election year.

COMMITTEE ELIGIBILITY

1. Committee members shall be:

• be a resident, tenant or owner of land in the Town of Shelburne, or the spouse of such owner or tenant
• 18 years of age or older

2. Advisory Committees of Council shall consist of no fewer than 5 members and shall not exceed 7 members,        plus Council appointed voting members. A maximum of two (2) Council Members is appointed to each      committee.

3. Employees of the Town of Shelburne or a local board are not eligible to serves as a Member unless provided for in legislation.

COMMITTEE MEETING FORMAT

1. Committee meetings including sub-working group meetings are held virtually.

2. The platform instructions will be provided to the committee members along with the virtual link stating the following:

“To protect the security and integrity of the meeting, please do not share this link with anyone. Members of the public are permitted to attend; however they must register in advance of the meeting with staff and staff will send the link directly to them. Members of the public can register directly by contacting the Clerk’s department clerk@shelburne.ca

3. Virtual meetings will be recorded and posted on the Towns You Tube Channel.

4. Virtual meetings will be retained by the Town Staff representative for retention purposes. The recording remains the property of the Town of Shelburne and is subject to requests under Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy “MFIPPA”.

5. When a committee meeting is held in person it must be in an open transparent format and allow public attendance. The location of meetings is Shelburne Town Hall unless another public town owned venue is approved. 

GENERAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS

1. Committee members shall adhere to the Municipality’s policies which are provided in  appendix 1. Non compliance to the applicable policies may result in an appointment being rescinded by Council. 

2. It is the responsibility of Members to identify and disclose any conflict of interest as defined under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. Members shall disclose pecuniary interest at the opening of a meeting, prior to any discussion on the matter, and if declared, shall not take part in discussion or vote on such matter

3. Members shall not in any way attempt to influence the voting on a matter before, during or after the meeting. When declaring a conflict of interest. All disclosed conflicts of interest shall be recorded in the meeting minutes and in the Municipality’s Conflict of Interest Declaration Registry.

4. Committees will not undertake any direct fundraising activities or fundraising on behalf of a third party. 

5. Committees will not use their allocated budgets to provide donations or grants to other organizations or third parties other than contributing personal volunteer hours to a cause. All donation/grant/fundraising requests are required to go through the through Council and the municipal grant funding program. 

PROCEDURE AND OPERATIONS

1. The Committee is subject to the control and direction of Council.

2. Each advisory committee will review the Council approved committee mandate at least once during each Term of Council unless otherwise directed by Council. Revisions or alterations to the Committee Mandate must be approved by Council.

3. A quorum is the minimum number of members of a body required to be present at a meeting in order for a body to exercise its power or authority. For the purposes of this by-law, Quorum shall mean a majority of Members constituted by fifty percent plus one unless otherwise specified within the Terms of Reference for each Advisory Committee. For the purposes of these terms of reference, where an Advisory Committee is composed of three members, two members constitute a quorum.

4. Each committee will develop an annual work plan in the first six months of their term. Where applicable the assigned budget must correspond with the work plan.  The work plan must be remitted to council through minutes.

5. All Committee recommendations to Council at a Council Meeting must be through resolutions and recorded in the committee minutes.

6. All committee members shall take any required training as deemed necessary by legislation, health and safety, Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), MFIPPA, or as otherwise prescribed.

7. Council will receive minutes of advisory committees through the Council agenda.

8. Committees should indicate that action is required by Council, by passing a resolution.

9. Members may submit items for inclusion on the committee agenda by giving notification to the chair in writing a minimum of two weeks prior to the meeting. The Chair will accommodate member requests for the inclusion of agenda items, whenever possible, but the Chair has the final decision about which items are included on the agenda. Chairs are encouraged to seek assistance from the Clerk or Deputy Clerk for all procedural matters.

10. Notwithstanding any of the above, Advisory Committees are not responsible for the following:

• Undertaking or directing the daily operations of the Municipality.
• Administrative matters including directions to staff.
• Reviewing staff structure, staff compensation, or other staffing related matters.
• Preparing, approving or delivering the Town’s annual budget and capital projects.
• Approving expenses – except for items purchased through their own budget.
• Performing project and program implementation, unless assigned by Council.
• Reviewing any matter that may be subject to the Municipality’s closed meeting provisions.
• Acting as a forum to debate decided matters of Council, or a forum to organize political advocacy for Council to reconsider decided matters.

11. All committees shall elect a Chair and a Vice-Chair at or soon after the first meeting of the Committee term. The election is conducted by staff.  The Chair and Vice Chair is elected for the term of the Committee.  

12. Committees shall not hold closed meetings.

ISSUING OF PUBLIC STATEMENTS

The Town of Shelburne may be asked to recognize matters that are significant to the Town of Shelburne, the County of Dufferin, the Province of Ontario, and the Country of Canada in response to an issue/situation.

No statements are to be made by members of Committees or individual members other than through the Mayor on behalf of Council. Committees may request the Town of Shelburne Council to make a statement which will be included in the Town Council agenda.

Approved statements will be made and posted on the Town website as well as a link on social media to the Official Statement on the website.

COMMITTEE MEMBER GENERAL COMMITMENTS

Committee members commitments: 

• Commit the time required to work on the Committee and attend all scheduled and special advisory committee meetings
• Attend Committee orientation and training sessions provided by the Town
• Understand the mandate of the advisory committee, including its relationship to Council
• Understand their role and expectations, including relevant Town policies.
• Understand the role and expectations of the advisory committee chair, Council liaisons and staff.
• Prepare for meetings by reading agendas and any background information supplied.
• Actively participate in the discussion and decision-making process.
• Undertake any work assigned, including special projects and research, in between meetings.
• Be open-minded and allow for a variety of opinions to be heard.
• Respect the individual worth and dignity of other advisory committee members, and maintain a high degree of professionalism.
• Recognize limitations on participation and inform the chair and staff when these limits are unreasonable.
• Ask questions, and seek clarification through the chair and the staff.
• Respect that actions taken, and recommendations shall reflect the majority view of the advisory committee.
• Respect the decisions and finality of Council.
• Clearly identify any items of pecuniary interest before they are discussed, and refrain from discussion and voting on the same.

SUB-WORKING GROUPS

1. Creation of sub-working groups require a clear mandate and reporting structure to the Advisory Committee to maintain adherence to transparency and accountability efforts undertaken by the Town.

2. Where activity levels warrant, the Committee may establish sub-working groups.  Committees shall not establish sub working groups whose members are not part of the original committee, without approval of Council.

3. Sub-working groups are subject to the same principles of accountability and transparency as prescribed by the Town.  

4. The role of the sub-working group is to perform specific tasks that are within the mandate of the Committee.

5. Sub-working groups must have a number of participants that is less than the total quorum of the Advisory Committee.

6. An Advisory Committee by motion may establish a sub-committee including the rational and purpose. Included in the recommendation for the establishment of the sub-committee will be the following information:

a)    The mandate and purpose of the sub-committee
b)    The start and end date of the sub-committee term
c)     Members of the advisory committee assigned to the sub-committee

7. Sub-committees are responsible for the preparation of their meeting notes.  Meeting notes must be submitted to the next regular committee agenda for consideration and approval of the Advisory Committee.

8. Staff are not required to attend sub-group meetings

ATTENDANCE

1. It shall be the responsibility of the committee member to contact the Chair and the designated member of staff of the committee prior to or reasonably soon after a non- attendance at a scheduled meeting.

2. If three scheduled meetings are missed, the member shall review non- attendance with the Chair.

3. Where attendance is related to the position of Chair then the Chair shall review non-attendance with the Mayor.

VACCANCIES

Vacancies on Boards and Committees are created when a member resigns or vacates the position, effective:

a)    The date of resignation.

b)    The date the members is removed by council resolution.

c)     The date the member no longer qualifies for the position.

d)    The date of the death of the member.

COUNCIL FILLING POSITIONS WHERE SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE IS REQUIRED

Boards and Committees may have one or more position in its composition designated to a stakeholder group(s) with a specialized knowledge, experience or representation.

Council may determine the need to fill the position in the following manner:

1) by invitation;

2) by seeking the assistance of a recruitment agency; or,

3) outreach to specific organizations or other means deemed appropriate by Council.

Activities with respect to filling Board and Committee positions where specialized expertise is required will be coordinated by the Clerk, in consultation with applicable staff.

ROLE OF STAFF LIASONS

The staff liaison(s) assigned to a committee generally provide two functions: secretarial role and a policy advice role. 

The staff person assigned to a committee will support and administration of the committee in the following ways:

• Assist the chair in determining if quorum was met.
• Record when the meeting started and adjourned.
• Record the advisory committee members present.
• Record without note or comment, including the names of the movers and seconders of motions.
• Note any disclosures of pecuniary interest, including the general nature thereof.
• Review and correct any errors in the minutes of previous meetings.
• Assist the chair and advisory committee members in preparing administrative components of any reports and/or presentations to Council.
• On a regular basis, assist the advisory committee to review goals and objectives, and ensure their work plan is realistic and up to date
• Offer procedural and process advice to the chair and advisory committee.
• Prepare the recommendations summary and minutes, and forward to the

Clerk prior to applicable Council agenda publishing deadlines

INTEGRITY COMMISSIONER

Members of Town Committees follow a Code of Conduct that outlines appropriate behaviour for the position. Committee members must keep certain information confidential, act impartially and not use their position for personal gain or influence.

To report a concern regarding committee members please contact the Integrity Commissioner by visiting https://www.shelburne.ca/en/town-hall/committees-and-boards.aspx?_mid_=36845

Appendix 1

TOWN OF SHELBURNE POLICIES THAT APPLY TO COMMITTEES – ADDITIONAL

Applicable policies can be found as amended at https://www.shelburne.ca/en/town-hall/committees-and-boards.aspx?_mid_=36845

• Accountability and Transparency
• Code of Conduct
• Procedural By-Law
• R-Zone Policy
• Social Media Policy