Volunteers set up to succeed, with clear expectations

 In Opinion

Clearview Township council continued its discussion about committees at a special meeting April 27 and what they decided should leave volunteers, council and staff with some much needed clarity.

Volunteerism has been a hot topic at council of late. Clearview Township has many committees that are made up of council members and volunteers in varying ratios but all of those committees, regardless of their mandate, will have to follow certain procedures if they wish to enjoy the benefits of being affiliated with the township.

Council is currently working to define the roles, obligations and expectations of the committees so they can be clearly conveyed to the members in a consistent manner. At the end of this review process, everyone should know where they stand.

New laws are making it so that the municipality must properly post agendas, hold open meetings in public places, file financials and publish minutes for all of its committees. This is an important part of being open and transparent. New laws also require that volunteers take accessibility training.

Asking people to meet certain requirements before they can volunteer is common practice. Before people are allowed to volunteer at a school, for a sports team or service club, they would be asked to undergo a criminal record check, partake in a workshop or take sensitivity training.

As long as the municipality can clearly state what it is they require of volunteers, we are sure most people won’t mind doing it. Many people who work with the public would appreciate some extra training.

In order to take advantage of insurance protection, be able to issue tax receipts and work on township property volunteers will be required to follow procedures. In terms of best practices, it all makes sense.

Council may have gone into this review thinking there were too many volunteer committee members to manage (a problem many municipalities would envy) and that the best way was to handle it was to reduce and consolidate committees but, with a little encouragement from CAO Steve Sage, they decided to shift the focus away from eliminating committees and instead come up with a consistent approach to bringing them into compliance.

Sage said if council and staff had been consistent in applying the rules, they wouldn’t be having this conversation now.

The review is still a work-in-progress but we are hearing that council and staff are taking some of the responsibility for the bumps on the road to compliance and now it is time for the volunteers to help accommodate these changes. There is still work to be done but council is ultimately saying it will allow Clearview’s committees to go ahead with their good work as long as they follow a few, and soon-to-be crystal clear, rules.

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