Future members of municipal advisory boards and committees in St. Albert may feel like they’re back on the school calendar, to start with, at least.
City staff will look into the impact of shifting the timing of the intake for new appointees from the calendar year to the school year and report back to council in Q1 of 2025 after a unanimous vote by city council Dec. 17.
The recommendation came from the Youth Advisory Committee, which believes shifting the interview/intake process to late spring (May or June) would help with recruitment and retention. But city staff suggested council consider moving the process for all boards and committees.
The youth board “anticipate this shift would reduce disruptions, such as missed meetings, removals from the committee, lack of quorum, and maintain momentum for ongoing projects,” according to a report from Community Services.
“Participation consistently drops during the final quarter of the calendar year, with increased resignations, removals due to unexcused absences, and frequent failures to meet quorum,” it reads. “Since September 2024, the YAC has failed to meet quorum once, received two resignations, and had one removal.”
It was the same story in October and December of 2023, when quorum was not met at either monthly meeting.
Without the change, “there is a risk that the committee will continue to fail to meet quorum, potentially leading to its dissolution due to insufficient participation.”
Only four people applied to serve on the board in 2024. The YAC believes changing the intake process would respect the fact that the lives of young people revolve around the school year, and usually include part-time work, personal and social commitments, extra-curricular activities, other volunteering and, of course, their education.
The fall, when recruitment takes place, is an even busier time for young people, with exams and major projects tacked on to their educational plate, plus the transition for some from high school to post-secondary.
Coun. Natalie Joly, who represents council on the YAC, said the members believe everything would run smoothly if recruitment took place in the spring instead.
Change other boards
City staff looked at the YAC recommendation and aside from the aversion to conducting two separate intake processes, suggested there is also plenty of other work for them to do in the fall, including the municipal budget. So they recommended that city council direct them to study the impact of changing the timing for all boards.
“As we started to talk to some of the staff liaisons and (reviewed) some of the work plans, we’re just not sure if we can do it for all of them or not,” Marta Caufield, the city’s director of legal and legislative services, said.
Before voting to direct staff to study the impacts, Coun. Mike Killick asked administration what the rationale was for the existing fall timing for recruitment.
Cheryle Wong, deputy clerk, said it’s done in the fall because it’s always been done in the fall. She said the spring shift has been brought up in casual conversation during the past 25 years she’s been with the corporation, but it never elevated to a motion for council to consider.
Coun. Ken MacKay expressed concern about the workload two intake processes would create for city staff.
“I can just see some challenges around terms, for example,” he said. “We just appointed a bunch of people for two- and three- year terms, now, how are we going to deal with that? That’s the first one that comes to my head.”
Caufield said the details could be worked out. On that topic, for example, council could pass a resolution extending terms for existing members to cover the gap.
Mayor Cathy Heron noted it could be beneficial in terms of overlap for the terms of boards and committees to differ from that of city council.
Joly added the Saturday interviews historically conducted for board members with city councillors are less workable for young people, too.
“It’s going to be a lot more convenient for youth to do it on a Wednesday after school,” she said. “In terms of the logistics, I’m confident they can be worked out … I don’t have any big concerns.”
