Last night there was one significant item that we discussed and that was the creation of a Community Committee on Financial Sustainability. While the name of this group will be workshopped, the intent was to have a group of people with a financial background and skillset act in an advisory role to both the Budget and Audit Committee, and to the Council as a whole.
We did not define the parameters of such a group, but in general the idea seems sound. There are folks that have quite a bit of experience and skills in the community and if we are able to bring those to bear it could be a great benefit to the city. The details around such a group would need to be fleshed out of course.
Things to consider when forming such a group would be their duties and responsibilities. This would need to be made explicit so that they have clear direction on how to proceed. The scope and purview of what this group would have access to and to what they could provide advice on would also be important. It would undercut the value of such a group if it were limited in what it could review.
All were in favor of forming such a group, pending the details some of which I just mentioned. Staff will prepare a draft and bring back to Council for approval once those details are fleshed out.
