by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Mayor John Peyton’s ordinance calling for the most comprehensive executive branch restructuring in 14 years has been deferred and won’t be up for a vote before the City Council tonight.
The bill, which has been under heavy Council scrutiny since its first reading in August, will remain in the Council’s Finance, Rules and Public Health, Safety & Utilities committees until the Council members questions have been satisfied.
Most recently, at a joint meeting of the three committees, a substitute addressing those areas of concerns was submitted.
Though reaching a middle ground has proved to being slow moving, mayor’s office spokesperson Heather Murphy, said the administration was happy to let the Council take the opportunity to ask questions.
“We’re receptive to the process and we welcome their participation in it,” said Murphy of the substitute. “Any kind of change like this needs to be thoroughly worked though and we want to be clear on their concerns.”
Council member Michael Corrigan said the Council wanted to be assured the proposed departmental shifts would work if they took effect.
“I don’t think there was really one particular aspect as much as we wanted to look at the entire bill,” said Corrigan. “This is a major change that many people feel positive about and we want to understand it.”
Corrigan said the joint committee meeting was established so no duplicate amendments would submitted by the three committees reviewing it, though Council member Jerry Holland said it might have been more effective for Peyton to hold meetings with everyone on the Council individually.
“I’m not saying the [joint committee meeting] was a waste of time,” said Holland, “but everyone had their own individual questions and that might have been effective.”
Among the provisions of the original streamlining bill that proved to be challenging for some on the Council was the defragmentation of the Regulatory and Environmental Services Department, which currently encompasses the Equal Opportunity, Mosquito Control and Consumer Affairs divisions.
“We wanted to be clear on where everything was going to go,” said Holland. “There were some real concerns there.”
Murphy stood behind the changes.
“We went into this with the guiding principle of ensuring the government was efficient and effective,” said Murphy. “Ultimately, we found that RESD didn’t make any sense the way it was. The restructuring offered some synergy that wasn’t there before.”
At the Council’s behest — namely Finance chair Warren Alvarez and Council president Lad Daniels — the Agriculture Department, which previously functioned as a stand-alone entity will be renamed an “extension commission,” and continue to advise the Peyton directly on various agricultural and farm-related issues.
Peyton’s bill originally moved the divisions into the Neighborhoods Department.
Everyone questioned declined to speculate on an effective date of the bill, though all agreed they wanted to move forward in the most productive way possible.
“I would hope it would be up for a vote by some time next month,” said Holland. “We all want to see an organization in place, but also we need to be sure that all of our concerns have been addressed so that it is something everyone is comfortable with.”