By Staff
February 22, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
Appointments to the following committees, were announced by Council on the 15th; took a week to get the list from the Communications department.
The Waterfront Access and Protection Advisory Committee which was sunset by the city made some very useful contributions to the way the waterfront issues were managed.
Burlington Seniors’ Advisory Committee
Burlington Inclusivity Advisory Committee
Burlington Sustainable Development Advisory Committee
Burlington Accessibility Advisory Committee
Committee of Adjustment
Approve the following appointments to the Burlington Seniors’ Advisory Committee for a term to expire on December 31, 2022:
Bob Chepyha
Kerry McGregor
Peter Buckley
Margaret Doma
Sara Elkabany
Ron Minaker
Deepak Sharma
Approve the following appointments to the Burlington Inclusivity Advisory Committee for a term to expire on December 31, 2022:
Ashley Wall
Rajan Chopra
Rajan Sharma
Approve the following appointments to the Burlington Sustainable Development Committee for a term to expire on December 31, 2022:
Dave Bourns
Dave Rokosh
Sarah Merriam
Approve the following appointments to the Burlington Accessibility Advisory Committee for a term to expire on December 31, 2022:
Ken Harris
Don Prescott
Patricia Debly
Doug Benton
Cindy Bond
Committee of Adjustment, the only committee that pays its members has made some pivotal decisions on small property adjustments and approving requests for changes to a zoning.
Approve the following appointments to the Burlington Committee of Adjustment for a term to expire on December 31, 2022:
Robert Martin
Filippo Capuano (Alternate)
Hany Aly (Alternate)
The disappointing part of this announcement is that the appointments are just for the balance of this year; all end on December 31st, 2022.
There are a lot of new faces, which is good, new blood is vital. However, experience counts for a lot. It will be hard for these committees to make useful decisions.
The Gazette would like to hear what others have to say.
These advisory committees have little or no influence. Most have no budgets and are unable to do anything except allow the city to say that they are engaging with the public. I know this first hand.
One of the campaign promises made by the current council was to overhaul these committees and make real change. Money was spent, reports were prepared by the citizens involved and presented to the different committees and council. The end result was that these recommendations were pulled from the Council agenda at the last minute to be voted on and disappeared never to be seen again.
Unless things have changed dramatically, which I doubt, it makes no difference if the term of office for these advisory committees are 1 year or more.
I understand due to the occurrence of the October municipal election, Advisory committee’s will not sit for the rest of the year past their scheduled June meetings. Most advisory committees meeting only once a month, which itself means little gets advanced. So then to have a six month hiatus period of no meetings. Well, as per Eric Idle “say no more”.