Common Council hears Pros And Cons About Changing The Way City Is Run

Common Council hearing about the benefits, for the most part, of switching to a committee form of local government where the back and forth would take place before various committees, depending on the issue, with less debate before the full Common Council. 

Common Clerk Elizabeth Gormley says there could be separate committees for growth and development, the environment, transportation and water with a co-ordinating committee dealing with the city budget.
 
Gormley says each committee would meet once a month and the full Council would still meet every two weeks. 

She maintains this form of city governance would lead to better decisionmaking, greater public participation and transparency although there are pitfalls which could include buck passing. 

Common Council wants to hear directly from Fredericton Council on how the system works in that city but also from Bathurst where it was tried and then discarded before deciding.