Board of Control (municipal government)
 |
In municipal government, a Board of Control is an executive body that usually deals with financial and administrative matters. The idea is that a small body of four or five people is better able to make certain decisions than a large, unwieldy city council. Boards of Control were introduced in many North American municipalities in the early 20th century as a product of the municipal reform movement. They proved unpopular with many as they tended to centralize power in a small body while disempowering city councils.
Boards of Control typically consist of the mayor and several Controllers who are elected on a citywide basis as opposed to aldermen who were elected on a ward basis. The Boards were criticized as undemocratic. Boards of Control tended to be less representative of the diverse opinions and communities, with majority views among the population being overrepresented. As well, since they were elected by a larger electorate running for a seat on the Board of Control would be prohibitively expensive for many municipal politicians, resulting in wealthier politicians being more likely to run for the body. Lastly, Boards of Control tended to meet in closed sessions (in camera) as opposed to open sessions in the manner of city councils, making them less accountable to the public.
Because of these problems, many municipalities abolished Boards of Control in the years following World War II. The Ottawa Board of Control operated from 1908 until 1980 and the Toronto Board of Control operated from 1896 to 1969, and was directly elected beginning in 1904. Several suburban municipalities in Metropolitan Toronto, Canada, had boards of control from the 1960s until the late 1980s, including North York, Scarborough, York, and Etobicoke. The London City Council in London, Ontario had one of the last remaining municipalities in North America to retain a Board of Control. It was abolished with the 2010 municipal elections.