Committees vs Portfolios

Traditionally in local government, Mayors assign specific roles to Councillors, outside of the Council and Committee of the Whole structures. These roles provide a Councillor(s) with responsibility for a particular function or group of functions within the municipality with the purpose of providing governance oversight.

I recently completed a research paper for a Local Government Administration course at Capilano University which examined the use of Portfolios vs Committees in BC municipalities. The most common form of Councillor assignment is through a Standing Committee. Under Section 141 of the Community Charter, the Mayor has the ability to establish Standing Committees "for matters the mayor considers would be better dealt with by committee and must appoint persons to those committees." A municipality commonly has 3 to 4 committees with 3 to 4 Councillors assigned to each committee. Committees are intended to examine or consider matters pertaining to their areas of responsibility and to make recommendations to either Committee of the Whole or Council. Committee meetings are scheduled, structured with agendas and minutes and open to the public.

In comparison, far fewer Mayors elect to use use the Portfolio system whereby individual Councillors are assigned to oversee specific departments or functions. Portfolios are similar to Committees by providing recommendations to Committee of the Whole or Council but are less structured and not generally open to the public.

Upon assessing the benefits and challenges associated with each structure, it was concluded that the Committee structure is more balanced with the involvement of three or four Councillors as opposed to a single Councillor and is more transparent with scheduled, open meetings.

The Mayor is currently contemplating a change from the current Portfolio system to a Committee structure in 2011. From an administrative perspective, Committees provide far more structure and reduce staff attendance at meetings from seven (Portfolios) to three (Committees). With a committee of three Councillors considering matters, recommendations can often go directly to Council rather than have to go to Committee of the Whole, reducing the time required for Council to make some decisions.