Future of committees discussed by council

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

The question of what do, if anything, with Van Wert City Council committees remains unanswered.

The topic was discussed during a “Council of the Whole” meeting held prior to Monday’s regular council meeting. The issue, which was brought up by Councilman-At-Large Jeff Kallas, was also discussed at a previous meeting. The topic of committees came up last fall, when members of the parks and recreation committee began researching a possible community pool and what other municipalities had done, and whether a phone conversation between two of the members was in violation of Ohio’s Sunshine Laws.

Monday night, Kallas noted that Van Wert City Council rarely has committee meetings and he suggested doing away with the committee system.

“We had one (last year) where the committee voted to take legislation and take it to the council and two of the members of that committee voted against it,” Kallas stated. “I also think that there’s a more effective way to enable communication between the members. I just think it inhibits the ability for us to do our job effectively.”

Council currently has seven different committees, made up of three council members – finance, streets and alleys, judiciary and annexation, properties and equipment, parks and recreation, health, service and safety, and economic development.

First Ward Councilman Jeff Agler noted that since most council members come to a committee meeting when one is held, he’s in favor of doing away with committees and having a Council of the Whole meeting when necessary. However, Councilwoman-At-Large Judy Bowers said she’s against the idea of dissolving the committee system.

“I personally think we should keep the committees because there are some times you need research and you can’t have a meeting without researching going on,” Bowers said. “I think the committees are important basically because it slows the process down enough to where you can get more informed if you have a committee doing the research and then coming to an open meeting like this.”

Bowers also said another option might be to keep the committees and add two more members who aren’t necessarily council members, but are city employees.

The idea of doing away with committees and forming special or ad hoc committees when needed was also floated during Monday night’s meeting.

In the end, no decision was made and Council President Thad Eikenbary said the matter will be discussed again during future meetings.