Councillor Cuddy’s removal from library board prompts possible rethink of external boards and commissions

Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis sees opportunity in the fact Coun. Peter Cuddy was removed from the London Public Library (LPL) Board for missing too many meetings.

“It’s never great when you have to fill a position halfway through [the council term], but it happens,” Lewis admitted. “We’ve had councillors resign from boards because of workload. We’ve had councillors resign from boards because of other things going on in their personal life.”

In this case, Cuddy remains tight lipped about why he missed three consecutive meetings of the library board on Oct. 24, Dec. 5, and Jan. 24.

According to the Public Libraries Act, missing three consecutive meetings without board authorization results in disqualification.

Left with seven citizen appointees and Coun. Sam Trosow on the LPL Board, a letter was sent to city hall seeking the appointment of a second councillor.

However, Lewis believes the situation might be a springboard for change, “To me, it actually has raised the question, ‘Do we need two members of council on the London Public Library Board?’”

There are 14 boards and commissions that include seats for council representation including London Transit, local conservation authorities, the RBC Place Convention Centre, Tourism London, and Covent Garden Market.

“It comes back to how many of these outside boards and commissions we have, how many of them we’re [required to] serve on, and how many councillors are on each one?” the deputy mayor explained.

Lewis said council might want to consider reducing some boards from two councillors down to one councillor plus an alternate to fill in during an absence.

Council would also have to decide whether reducing the number of councillors would result in appointing one extra citizen or reducing the number of seats.

“I want to take a look at what a couple of comparable municipalities do. I want to look at Hamilton, Kitchener, and Windsor to see what their [board] compositions look like,” Lewis concluded.

Lewis separated out what he calls “The Big Four,” because of their complexity and close connection to the municipal budget: London Police Services Board, the Middlesex-London Board of Health, the London Transit Commission, and London Middlesex Community Housing.

Lewis has some time to consider his next steps.

Filling the library board seat vacated by Cuddy will be on the agenda of the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee’s meeting on Feb. 25.