February 5, 2007

RYAN MOVES TO FURTHER STRENGTHEN COMMITTEE SYSTEM

“A stronger legislature better able to fulfill its Charter responsibilities to create County policy and oversee County government.” That’s what Board Chair Bill Ryan (D-I-WF, White Plains) envisions will result from staffing changes now underway at the Board of Legislators. The changes, which include the designation of a central staff, is the second major step taken by Ryan to strengthen the legislature’s committee system. Ryan pointed out that the changes would be accomplished without increasing the Board’s 2007 budget.

Last year, Ryan slashed the number of Board committees from 23 to 10. “That cut costs, enhanced efficiency and produced some excellent results,” Ryan said. “After a year working with the streamlined system, I personally felt that the committees needed a stable, central staff that only focused on public policy and oversight work, our Charter responsibilities.”

“Once staff members are assigned to committees, their only focus should be on committee work,” Ryan continued. “They’ll have the time to deal with substantive issues in more depth and they’ll have the opportunity to develop into a valuable resource for the legislators on the committee. This is a model that’s worked very successfully in legislative bodies on all levels of government.”

In the past, a relatively small Board staff divided its activities between committee work and district work for individual legislators. This limited the time staff could devote to policy matters and oversight. Under the staff restructuring, each legislator will have funds to hire either full or part-time personal legislative aides for district work.

“In December, the Board’s Majority and Minority Leaders recommended the hiring of personal legislative aides after having received support from their caucuses,” Ryan explained. “I saw that with the proper safeguards and accountability in place, this could enable me to implement the central staff plan.”

Ryan said the new central staff plan would provide continuity. In the past, staff were assigned to legislators, rather than to committees. Under the new system, committee staff would remain in place even if a committee chair changed.

As Chair, Ryan has made the strengthening of the committee system a priority.