AUBURN — A City Council meta-committee will scrutinize the city’s other committees, what they do and if they should continue, councilors said Thursday.
Creating a council work group to look at subcommittee structure was among 45 initiatives councilors worked through at a special goal-setting workshop.
Among the initiatives were jobs and programs city staff have been working on based on council recommendations. They ranged from monitoring economic development around the Auburn Mall, street improvements along the Minot Avenue/Washington Street area, several land-use planning projects, downtown transportation projects, replacing Edward Little High School and considering emergency medical services.
Councilors began the discussion Jan. 3 at a moderated planning session.
City Manager Clinton Deschene said he’d take the list back, re-sort it based on council comments Thursday and use it as his work plan.
“I’m going to put this into a time schedule and put it into the council’s work schedule,” Deschene told councilors. “This is what your life looks like for the next few months.”
Several items on the list call for creating or modifying subcommittees. Councilors hope to create a finance committee to advise them on budgetary and spending matters, as well as a group of East Auburn neighbors to discuss transportation and recreation issues for the area around outlet beach.
Councilors also want to monitor their relationships with committees they share with Lewiston, including the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council, the Lewiston-Auburn Transit Committee and the Androscoggin Transportation Resource Center.
“I think we need to get organized around how we use committees and how we use our time,” Mayor Jonathan LaBonte said.
LaBonte said it’s a top priority for councilors, and he suggested forming a work group to come up with proposed changes.
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