LEWISTON- A new permanent Public Safety Committee received first passage by a unanimous vote of the City Council during their February 17th meeting.
The Council is expected to give the committee final approval at their next meeting on March 3rd.
The committee, a result of discussions amongst Councilors and city staff, will include more than a dozen members, including the Chief of Police (or her designee).
The Mayor has an existing public safety committee, but it is considered ad hoc (temporary).
There appears to be disagreement over when to start the new committee, and when to end the Mayor’s ad hoc committee.
Mayor Carl Sheline insisted at the meeting that his committees (both public safety and economic development) would “run through August”.
Several Councilors said that they would prefer the ad hoc committee to end right when the new committee is created: 30 days after final passage, which would be in the beginning of April (assuming Councilors vote for final passage at their next meeting).
Ad hoc committees can be created by the Mayor, and can only be disbanded based on an expiration date in their charges or by mayoral decree.
If the Mayor refuses to disband his ad hoc public safety committee, staff resources will be drained working on two committees instead of one.
City Administrator Bryan Kaenrath pointed this out, and urged Councilors to decide a plan forward so as to not have two committees running simultaneously.
When the committee discussion was happening, it was about 10pm and the Mayor suggested moving forward with first passage and taking up the timeline debate again at the next meeting during final passage.
It seems clear that a majority of the Council wants the ad hoc committee to end when the new committee begins. There is a potential for a stand-off between the Mayor and Councilors, unless something changes in the time between now and the next meeting.