Civic Nerdiness
This week on Tuesday, Jan 16 at 2:30pm, the City Council’s Ad-Hoc Rules Committee will conduct a public hearing in the Sullivan Chamber to discuss and suggest changes to the City Council Rules. This committee consists of Vice Mayor Devereux (Chair) and Councillors Mallon and Kelley; as well as Donna Lopez, City Clerk; Nancy Glowa, City Solicitor; Maryellen Carvello, Office manager to the City Manager, and Wil Durbin, Chief of Staff to the Mayor.
I suppose it must be the pinnacle of civic nerdiness to care about the City Council Rules, but the structure of the City Council subcommittees, their mission, the number of members on each committee, and what constitutes a quorum are actually contained within the City Council Rules. From this civic nerd’s point of view this actually is significant. In an ideal world the subcommittees should be where most of the detail work takes place. Unfortunately, it has sometimes been the case that these subcommittees become little more than discretionary devices for their respective Chairs where matters that sometimes have little to do with the purpose of the committee are pursued. In addition, there have been some topics in the last few years that didn’t really have a natural match to any of the existing City Council committees or which were taken up by what might be viewed as the wrong committee. For example, if there is a Transportation and Public Utilities Committee, why were matters relating to bicycle transportation handled within the Neighborhood and Long Term Planning, Public Facilities, Art, and Celebrations Committee? [I would restructure the committees just to shorten the name of that one.]
It’s interesting to look at what the standing committees have been at various times in Cambridge history. Here are a few snapshots, including some recorded in the City’s Annual Documents (yes, I really do have these original books on my shelf):
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Joint Committees: 1887 Standing Committees Standing Committees |
Joint Committees: 1911-1912 Standing Committees Standing Committees of the Common Council |
City Council Committees: 1938 Bonds City Engineering City Planning Claims Elections and Printing Finance Health Industrial Development Legislative Matters Licenses Military Affairs Ordinances Parks and Cemeteries Public Celebrations Public Property and Public Institutions Public Safety Public Service Roads and Bridges Rules and Orders Soldier’s Aid Water Supply Wires and Lamps |
City Council Committees: 1998 Civil and Human Rights Claims Economic Development, Training, and Employment Elder Affairs Environment Finance Food Policy Government Operations Health and Hospitals Housing and Community Development Human Services and Youth Ordinance Public Safety Public Service Rules Sister Cities Traffic and Transportation Veterans |
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City Council Committees: 2000 Civic Unity Economic Development, Training, and Employment Finance Government Operations, Rules, and Claims Health and Environment Housing Human Services Neighborhood and Long-term Planning Ordinance Public Facilities, Art, and Celebrations Public Safety Transportation, Traffic, and Parking Veterans |
City Council Committees: 2012 Civic Unity Claims Community Health Economic Development, Training, and Employment Environment Finance Government Operations and Rules Housing Human Services Neighborhood and Long Term Planning Ordinance Public Facilities, Art, and Celebrations Public Safety Transportation, Traffic, and Parking University Relations Veterans |
City Council Committees: 2016 Economic Development and University Relations Finance Government Operations, Rules, and Claims Health and Environment Housing Human Services and Veterans Neighborhood and Long Term Planning, Public Facilities, Art, and Celebrations Ordinance Public Safety Transportation and Public Utilities |
City Council Committees: 2018 ????? |
It’s likely that prior to the adoption of the Plan E Charter that went into effect in 1941 there was either the need or the desire for more oversight of City departments, and both the number and the nature of the City Council (and Board of Alderman) committees seem to reflect this. Some standing committees are essentially permanent (Ordinance, Finance), but others clearly change with the times and even with the desires of individual councillors. What should be the focus of City Council subcommittees for the 2018-2019 City Council term? Should they remain the same? Are there any priorities that warrant a redefinition of the Council subcommittees? Should we revive some committees from the long past?
If you have any ideas, come to the meeting Tuesday afternoon. – Robert Winters