Council delaying financial committee

Confident with its current financial position, Turner Valley town council is putting off plans to establish a committee focused on Town spending. Despite a finance advisory committee being an emergent item for some councillors since last fall’s election, council agreed to the CAO’s recommendation at its June 18 regular meeting to put off establishing the committee of council members, administration and residents. CAO Todd Sharpe told council he needs time to review the internal processes, collaborate with staff and better understand the committee mandate and proper financial accountabilities and polices. He added he would also like time to provide a review and recommendations for purchasing goods and services, the tender selection and awarding process, the delegation of staff, frequency of which to report to council and the business planning process. “Drafting a terms of reference for committees takes some time,” he told council. “We intend to have a manager of finance for corporate services in place by the end of September. That person should be heavily involved in this process. Please consider that.” Establishing a finance advisory committee was among the priorities in Mayor Gary Rowntree’s election campaign. “That was part of my platform, but that being said that was simply because of the situation at hand where there seemed to be a concern among the residents in regards to the flow of critical information, questioning around the tendering process and was council fully involved in knowing why certain contractors were awarded other than the less expensive option,” he said. “The financial reports, which we went through in the budget process, seemed to lack the information we, as council, wanted for our residents. There just seemed to be a lack of transparency at the time.” Rowntree said he no longer feels that’s the case. “The tender selections certainly looks like it will improve and I’m looking forward to that being presented to council,” he said. “I’m certainly wanting to see what administration now puts forward for council. With the new CAO and the commitment he has made to not only council but also our residents on this I feel comfortable with his request for us to allow administration to bring forward their plans in the very near future before we carry through with the finance committee.” Coun. Cindy Holladay agrees with giving administration more time before establishing the financial advisory committee, but she still sees it as essential for the operations of the Town. “Through the budget process last year we went through four revisions,” she said. “If we had a finance committee we could have cut that down. It’s something our residents have clearly stated they wanted.” Coun. Lana Hamilton also supports Sharpe’s request, but said she agrees with Holladay that the committee is still needed. “A finance committee is a great addition to our policies,” she said. “I think that if we got members of community that want to sit on a committee and donate time and be a second set of eyes and new ideas I can’t see that’s a hindrance to anyone. I see it as a helping hand to administration and council, not a hindrance.” Deputy Mayor Barry Crane said he’s grateful for Sharpe’s recommendations. “This is exactly what belongs on the finance committee,” he said. “A good finance committee is definitely going to help the situation. When you think of the changeover of council and administration, a good solid committee with public involvement is important. “To me it’s not only about what we want and what the people asked for in the last election but it’s what do we carry forward and I think a finance committee is definitely going to be in line with that.” Council agreed to delay work on creating the financial advisory committee until January 2019.