A magnifying glass over the city’s advisory committees has apparently frustrated one of those (former) committee chairs.

Peter van Boeschoten told me today he was no longer interested in being chairman of the seniors advisory committee because of the city’s scrutiny of the advisory committee structure. One of the items on last night’s agenda was the election of a chair and vice-chair and van Boeschoten tells me Margaret Dunn is the new chair.

Although he didn’t want to dwell on it, van Boeschoten said he believes advisory committees don’t have much longer to live and their influence has evaporated. The city is “strangling” all the advisory committees, van Boeschoten offered.

“It’s very frustrating for all the advisory committees right now,” he said.

The city is currently reviewing the structure of the 15 advisory committees, which are made up of citizens. The governance renewal subcommittee directed that any recruitment for the committees be put on hold until council receives a report, which is expected before the end of March.

I’ve seen this struggle between council and advisory committees ever since I set up shop down here at City Hall. The advisory committees want so bad to be relevant in the decision-making process. And behind the scenes, many councillors don’t understand why the city needs the advisory committees when they, as council members, are the ultimate decision-making authority.

As for van Boeschoten, he said he will remain a strong advocate for seniors through his membership in other community groups.