The Champaign County Board is looking to become more efficient by restructuring its committee system, according to a proposal devised by Dist. 9 Board representative and College of Law instructor Steve Beckett.

Members of the board’s policy committee will vote on Wednesday on Beckett’s proposal.

The plan includes changing the number of committees from six to four and allowing board members to serve on one committee rather than two.

“All the same duties would exist,” Beckett said. “There would still be the same amount of oversight.”

The two committees that would be affected by the change are the Justice and Social Services Committee and the Highway and Transportation Committee. The duties of Justice and Social Services would transfer over to Policy, Personnel and Appointments while the Highway and Transportation Committee would combine with Facilities, he said.

“It would be a mistake to put all those very heavy duties into the same committee,” said Jenny Putman, former board member. She said the board would have to make sure that the responsibilities of all four committees will still be carried out by the remaining two.

Sam Smucker, Dist. 8 board representative and graduate programs research coordinator in bioengineering, voiced similar concerns.

“All the oversight would get folded into the other two committees that already have full plates,” he said.

The Facilities and Highway and Transportation Committees do not have lengthy meetings, so it would be more efficient to combine the two, Beckett said.

Tom Betz, board vice-chair and head of the Policy, Personnel and Appointments Committee, said its meetings usually take about two to three hours.

“We’re not going to ignore the Justice Committee issues,” he said. “Combining the committees has the possibility of diluting the issues that go in front of the Justice Committee.”

The consolidation of committees may increase the workload of members, but this should be expected, Beckett said.

By reducing member participation on committees, there would be a 25 percent reduction, or about $15,000, in per diems, which is the amount of money members receive for attending meetings, he said. Currently, there are nine members on each committee, but this proposal would reduce the number to seven.

“The primary motivation is the thought that we should step up to the plate and share in the budget crisis,” Beckett added. “We have a responsibility to sacrifice and work a little harder the same way we expect county employees to do.”

Putman said she thought there might be a different way to save money.

“If saving money is the most important consideration, they might think of something else to have members accept less per diems,” she said.

Putman cited a proposal by Board Chair C. Pius Weibel that presented the idea of members going to nine committee meetings each year rather than 12. She said she thought this would be a way of reducing costs while still retaining the six current committees.

“While it may be more convenient for County Board members to go to one meeting, it’s not more efficient for the county,” Smucker added. “It reduces oversight.”

Randall Cotton of Champaign said he strongly opposes Beckett’s proposal regarding committee structure.

“The County is shooting itself in the foot by gutting its central structure,” he said. “More attention and more effort need to be made by the committee structure. We need more attention, rather than less.”

Brendan McGinty, District 9 representative, said he does not think enough discussion has happened yet. While he believes the purpose of the proposal is to increase the efficiency of county government, it is hard to tell what the effects of the proposal would be.

“We need to take a ride in a helicopter and look at this from a higher perspective,” he said. “We need a broader discussion.”