London, Ont., city councillors are set to make a change that some hope will finally make being a councillor a full-time job.
Earlier this week, the governance working group unanimously agreed to a draft schedule for next year that will see standing committee meetings begin much earlier in the day than now.
The new schedule will see the civic works committee meetings begin at 9:30 a.m. and the rest of the standing committees and council get underway at 1 p.m. That moves the start times up from a split of 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Deputy mayor Shawn Lewis, who initiated the change, says he thinks the earlier start times should have been in place years ago.
“This should make councillors put their primary focus on being a councillor,” said Lewis. “This shouldn’t be a side gig off the edge of your desk at another job or something where you rip open the envelope and start looking through your agenda as you show up for a meeting.”
The second-term councillor says one of the big benefits is simply not having meetings run until close to midnight. Lewis referenced that if the most recent council meeting had started at 4 p.m. — like council meetings did up until this year — it would not have been until midnight when it wrapped up.
“Nobody is making good decisions 9:30, 10 o’clock, 11 at night,” says Lewis, adding most councillors begin their work by 9 a.m., meaning there are days where work extends past 12 hours.
Another benefit of moving the meeting times up is it will save the taxpayers money, says Lewis. While councillors and some senior staff are paid an annual salary, many other employees, like IT support, clerk staff and security, who must stay at city hall during meetings, are hourly.
“All those people who are either making overtime or owed time off in lieu for having to stay late… it’s extra time we are either losing productivity from or it’s time we are paying extra for,” said Lewis, adding there is also the quality of life aspect that should be considered for city hall employees.
Martin Horak, an associate professor of political science with a focus on urban politics with Western University, says he agrees with the notion put forward by Lewis that moving meeting times up in the day would save taxpayers some money.
“From a fiscal perspective and the convenience of councillors perspective, those are probably good things,” said Horak.
But Horak says he is a little concerned about the limitations the new times could set on public participation.
“Most people who have full-time jobs work during the day… so I think that is something that needs to be considered in this debate,” added Horak.
But Lewis says conversations with councillors from other big cities has given him and others the indication that civic engagement can actually increase.
“People aren’t coming to city hall, but what they are doing is taking their five-minute coffee break and logging into Zoom for a virtual meeting and then logging out and going back to work,” said Lewis.
He adds there are also more personal ways to express opinions with councillors like a one-on-one meeting rather than the direction style a public participation meeting allows.
The subject of changing standing committee meeting time starts will be brought forward to the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee meeting on July 19.
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