Rocky View County’s (RVC) Policy and Priorities Committee (PPC) has been replaced with a new Governance and Priorities Committee (GPC), following a decision by council at a regular meeting Jan. 8. The unanimous adoption of the GPC Terms of Reference (TOR) was one of several amendments adopted by council impacting the County’s existing boards and committees. According to Legislative and Bylaw Co-ordinator Tyler Andreasen, council directed administration to review the municipality’s various boards and committees at the Oct. 23, 2018 organizational meeting. “The proposed amendments incorporate suggestions made by some councillors at the organizational meeting,” he said. A draft GPC TOR was presented to PPC Oct. 2, 2018, and at that time, Andreasen said the committee directed administration to bring the document back for consideration at a future council meeting. According to Andreasen, the GPC TOR “would, among other things, expand the scope of the committee and clarify presentation requirements for residents, community groups and other organizations.” Notable changes include the removal of a slide limit for PowerPoint presentations, he added, as well as the reduction of the presentation request deadline from four weeks to three weeks. “The change to GPC would require amendments to the County’s Committees Bylaw,” Andreasen said. “Instead of further amending the existing bylaw, which was adopted in 2006, administration is proposing a new bylaw.” A new Boards and Committees Bylaw unanimously adopted by council will update the list of RVC’s existing boards and clarify the process of creating new boards, according to Andreasen. He added the bylaw creates a two-term limit for members at large of all boards, except for the Recreation District Boards. “There are provisions available for the reappointment of members at large beyond two terms, if there are no other applicants,” he said. Other amendments allow for the Assessment Review Board to appoint its own chair and create a vice chair position, and increases the term length of Bragg Creek FireSmart Committee members from one year to four years. Council also unanimously adopted a TOR for the Agricultural Service Board, replacing two separate policies that have served that function since 2011. Council chose to continue its practice of appointing the chair of that board, filling the position with a councillor chosen among the three appointed to the board. “I believe having a councillor front and centre when there’s major presentations to be done, I think, is great optics for the county,” said Coun. Daniel Henn, who currently chairs the Agricultural Service Board. Coun. Jerry Gautreau was absent from the meeting.
