AUBURN — The newly elected City Council met for the first time Monday evening to discuss how they want to work together and what they want to change. 

There was a big emphasis on transparency and communication between councilors, committees and boards throughout the city and region. 

The workshop focused on “exclusively orientation-like items” but was not a full-fledged orientation.

There will be a full day of orientation to go over departments and responsibilities in depth on Saturday, Jan. 9, followed by a workshop council meeting the following Monday. This will allow all councilors to get a thorough understanding of what will be expected of them.

Mayor Jonathon LaBonte urged the new councilors to put their ideas out there and see what ideas each member has.

The main focus of the workshop revolved around committees and boards, and the lack of communication and understanding between those and the council. 

LaBonte wants to work on committee reform this term, something he says he’s been working on for the last four years. 

“It’s been a challenge getting ahold of all the boards and committees,” LaBonte explained. There has been a problem with transparency from the groups with minutes, budgets and funding. 

The council wants to make sure all of the existing committees are necessary and helpful before putting together and approving the city budget. 

Another issue is the City Council doesn’t actually have much control over how the budget is formed, they just receive an amount from each committee.

“It’s clear that the current system has flaws,” newly elected at-large Councilor Grady Burns added. “We don’t have a clear idea where we are right now.” Burns suggested there be a better and “easier to digest” system to understand and communicate with the 40 or so groups.

According to LaBonte there is currently a large binder with listings of all of the active committees and boards, but it is apparently complicated and elusive.

“What we have now gives us a scope, but not the intricacies. We want to avoid redundancies,” Burns added.

The council wants to push for a clear organizational structure from each group as well as consistent access to information.

Currently, councilors split their time between their own meetings and going to meetings for multiple organizations, which keeps them from being able to focus on their own progress.

LaBonte wants the council to be able to focus on their own issues and agendas to improve the city and serve its citizens. “There’s different ways to manage the workload . . . and we’ve got a group here that wants to get their hands dirty,” he said.

Councilman Robert Stone wants to make sure the emphasis remains on proper handling of the budget. “How effectively are we spending our property tax dollars? Let’s make sure we do it right.”