Mayor John Rowswell has announced that his first priority in his new term of office is to set a new direction for city boards and committees by getting new volunteers to serve. In order to stimulate new ideas, said the mayor, a limit should be imposed on how long citizens are able to serve.
Rowswell suggests an eight- or nine-year limit on years of service.
The mayor is on the right track in seeking to get new ideas from new volunteers. But city council should reject any attempts to place limits on the years of service by volunteers.
We don't impose such limits on workers in private enterprise and we shouldn't be doing it in government — or is the mayor in support of limits on terms of office for mayors and city councillors?
If some boards and committees are being clogged by long-time volunteers who are making no contribution, then these people should not be re-appointed, or there should be a process in place to replace them.
But we should not impose arbitrary limits on volunteers who, despite long-time service, continue to be eager to serve and still may have much to offer, being able to call on years of knowledge and experience related to the board or committee on which they are serving.
To those who offer themselves for voluntary municipal service, we should not be rewarding them by rejecting them after a specific number of years, just because a certain time limit has elapsed. That's grossly unfair, and it's not smart.
