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Home My WebLink AboutFCS-12-119 - Nominating Committee - Terms of ReferenceREPORT TO:Finance & Corporate Services Committee DATE OF MEETING: June 18, 2012 SUBMITTED BY: R. Gosse, Director of Legislated Services/City Clerk PREPARED BY: R. Gosse ext. 2809 WARD(S) INVOLVED: n/a DATE OF REPORT: June 11, 2012 REPORT NO.: FCS-12-119 SUBJECT: TERMS OF REFERENCE – NOMINATING COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION: That the Terms of Reference for the Nominating Committee as attached to Finance & Corporate Services Department report FCS-12-119, be approved. BACKGROUND: In October 2006 Council received and adopted “A Plan for a Healthy Kitchener, 2007-2027” (P4HK) as the community’s vision for the upcoming twenty years. P4HK provides a unified strategic approach to key areas essential to the health and vitality of the City of Kitchener. From that Plan, Compass Kitchener chose, as a priority activity and with the support of Council, the review of all the City Advisory Committees. Specifically, the initiative considered: the alignment of the City’s Advisory Committees in support of the community’s priorities; recruitment and appointment processes; advisory committees’ structure and mandate; representatives; term of appointment; and, other pertinent issues. As a result of the review, Chief Administrator’s Office reports CAO-08-021 and CAO-08-027 put forward several recommendations that were approved by Council in the fall of 2008. One of these recommendations approved revisions to Council Policy I-63 (Appointments to Boards and Committees), specifically creating a Nominating Committee. In September, 2009, the terms of reference for the committee were presented for consideration to the Finance and Corporate Services Committee (FCSC) however; recommendation to adopt the terms was deferred and subsequently referred back to the FCSC for further information regarding the possibility of having representatives from established community groups sitting on as members of the committee. As of this date, the terms of reference for the Nominating Committee have not been adopted. REPORT: In December 2008, Council made its annual appointments to the boards and committees including the Nominating Committee. At that time there were only 4 candidates to fill the 5 public member positions. Following the appointments Councillor Vrbanovic made the following suggestion: í ó ï “…that prior to the appointments that will be made in 2010, the Terms of Reference for the Nominating Committee be reviewed in context of the possibility of having representatives from K-W Community Foundation, or United Way or other similar agencies to sit on the Committee and, that members of the Nominating Committee be allowed to sit on any Committee other than Advisory Committees.” During 2009, the Nominating Committee reviewed the practices used for recruitment and appointment to the various committees and boards. Many new initiatives were developed such as re-designing the application form; new communication tools to reach a larger and more diverse community with respect to soliciting applications; and, the role of the Committee as part of the overall recruitment/appointment process. In addition, Terms of Reference for the committee were drafted and presented to the Finance & Corporate Services Committee (FCSC) for approval. In drafting the Terms, the Nominating Committee discussed the idea of having representation from specific agencies/groups on the committee. The Committee felt that having broad community representation was the goal and having specific organizational representation may not help in achieving this goal. Other advisory committees specify through their terms of reference that sector specific representatives will be part of the committees’ composition; this is done to either create a link between the committee and an outside agency or another committee or, to ensure certain skill/experience is brought to the committee. In terms of the Nominating Committee, it was felt this is not the case. The goal in recruiting for this committee is to have a broad representation of the community and to have the best candidates for appointment. Specifying a representative from a selected organization, may not ensure the best person for this particular committee. Although the committee did not feel it was in the best interest to specify a representative, it was recognized that when recruiting for the committee, it will be important to solicit candidates from these and other organizations such as neighbourhood associations, affiliated sports groups, etc. In addition, it will be important to select candidates that not only represent the community but also have some experience with citizen committees/boards. In the Fall of 2009, the draft Terms were presented to FCSC for approval but the matter was deferred to allow staff to contact various community groups to ascertain their interest in having a representative sit on the Nominating Committee. The KW Community Foundation, Multi-cultural Centre and the KW United Way organizations were contacted and the request was to be brought before the Boards, however; staff were not advised on any decision in this regard. With the upcoming election year and other issues, the Nominating Committee continued their work without the Terms of Reference. 2012 is when appointments are made to all advisory committees therefore the full recruitment and appointment process is utilized. Staff believes it is important that a Nominating Committee be part of that process and work under approved Terms of Reference. Attached are the Terms presented to Council in 2009 and it is being recommended that they be approved. ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN: Community Priority: Leadership and Community Engagement: The shared vision is for Kitchener to be a community in which the residents are engaged and active in decision making about local issues. That the City develops a strategy and processes to support the Community Engagement Policy, that includes the sharing of all pertinent information and ensures opportunities for involvement of all citizens. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: í ó î n/a COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: n/a ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Dan Chapman, Deputy CAO, Finance & Corporate Services í ó í : POLICY NUMBER DATE: _________________ : POLICY TYPE BOARD and COMMITTEE : SUBJECT NOMINATING COMMITTEE – TERMS OFREFERENCE POLICY CONTENT: 1.Purpose and Scope The Nominating Committee will assess applicants to Advisory Committees of Council on the basis of diverse representation of the community, expertise/interest in an issue or topic area, and in regard to each advisory committee’s Terms of Reference and present Council with a list of qualified candidates for each committee. 2.Committee Composition and Reporting (a) The Nominating Committee will be appointed by Council comprised of five community members and at least 2 City Staff. The committee will be chaired by one of the citizen appointees. Staff does not have voting privileges but are there in a facilitative and resource role. Staff will include: (i) Director, Legislated Services, or designate (ii) Executive Assistant / Committee Administrator, Corporate Services And may or may not include (iii) Director, Strategic Planning and Innovation or designate (b) Normally appointments will be made to the Nominating Committee six months to one year prior to Council’s usual November appointments meeting. (c) Citizen members of the Nominating Committee will not currently sit on any or the City’s Advisory Committees and will not have sat for at least one year. (c) All members will serve for a period of 2 years. (d) The Committee shall annually choose a Chair. (e) Normally, meetings will be held at the call of the Chair. Frequency will depend on the appointment cycle and meetings will occur as required to í ó ì meet the obligations of Council’s schedule. It is expected that bi-weekly meetings will be required during the active recruitment and appointment phase, but may slow to quarterly or at the Chair’s call for the remainder of the year. (f) The Committee shall report directly to Council. 3.Quorum Quorum for this Committee is 3 members. 4.Responsibilities The Nominating Committee will be responsible for: (a) Reviewing citizen applications for Advisory Committees and proposing a suggested list of candidates to Council for consideration, ensuring the diversity lens has been applied and the matter of succession planning has been considered. (b) Designing and implementing an accessible and inclusive advisory committee recruitment and application process. (c) Convene, as required, to fill Advisory Committee vacancies. This may be at the call of the Chair or from a specific request from an Advisory Committee with a vacancy. í ó ë