Supercommittees May be Taking A Superdive

publication date: Dec 17, 2007

 | 

author/source: Jonathan Copsey / STAFF

Roswell City Council members have been sniping at one another for the better part of a year over — are you ready for this? — how to hold their committee meetings.

A council majority had abandoned the old structure of six committees, with one council member and the mayor on each committee.

Opponents of the mayor thought that gave him way too much power, so they passed a new structure with all six council members and the mayor sitting on two “supercommittees.”

Then, at a work session after last week’s council meeting, it looked like the supercommittees were falling out of favor.

The ongoing debate had been stretched out by Councilman David Tolleson, who kept finding reasons to delay a vote or even a discussion on the structure of the meetings.

Then, last week, Tolleson provided the impetus for a shift away from the supercommittees by inviting newly elected council members Becky Wynn and Rich Dippolito — who do not take office until next month — to come to the table to discuss alternatives. Wynn and Dippolito provided two ideas, one of which was quickly seized upon as a workable replacement to the supercommittees.

The new option would divide the meetings into three, thereby shortening each meeting, with four members of council and the mayor heading up each committee. There would be no requirement of a quorum for the meetings, and the smaller committees would allow more interaction between the council members and city staff.

 
“We were hearing from staff that they liked the smaller six committees because of the informality and they felt like they weren’t being rushed, and they liked the bigger committees because they could meet with more people and get more feedback and better sharing of information,” Wynn said. “We were just trying to find a middle ground here that would work for the majority of the people.”

While most of the council members refused to pick an option after only a few minutes of discussion, Tolleson threw his support behind the Wynn-Dippolito structure, saying they “find the middle ground.” That appeared to mean at least a three-vote death knell for the supercommittees — unless someone has a change of heart.

Councilman Kent Igleheart held fast to his fast-fading supercommittees.

“The whole idea was to make it simpler, more efficient and be something that everybody can understand easily,” Igleheart said. “When you add a third committee you add even more time.”

The council was to vote on the committee structure at this week’s meeting.