It's been nearly two months since the new council took over at Orangeville's Town Hall, and while a couple of the old members remain, you can clearly see a difference in style.

The nights of finishing around 11 p.m., with this reporter barely still awake, seem to be a thing of the past.

So far in the new term, meetings have been finishing around 9 p.m., although council may still have a few "in-camera" items to deal with.

I'm still trying to decided whether this is beneficial. I mean, I definitely like getting home two hours earlier, but at the same time I liked hearing the discussions on items that weren't necessarily controversial. It just feels a little more rushed.

There was definitely some confusion at the first meeting as to how things were going to be done.

Rather each item being dealt with one at a time, many were lumped together under corresponding headings such as reports, information items, etc. Although councillors had an opportunity to pick out items they wanted to discuss thoroughly, they weren't too fond of that, perhaps because they couldn't remember all the particular items on which they wanted to have a discussion.

They seem to have the flow down now, but apart from finishing earlier I haven't seen the advantage of this style.

All members appear to be working well together; so far there hasn't been a battle of words. But there also hasn't been any hugely controversial issue to be dealt with.

When I'm deciding which items I would like to write about, I enjoy looking through my notes and reviewing what council members have said and where they stand on an issue. I now no longer have that option.

They're all staying true to the election promise of wanting to put the Town in a solid financial situation and to start eliminating the debt. But their success in that can only truly be judged at the end of this four-year term.

Another thing I don't see as advantageous is the Citizens' Commission on Finance meeting several times to discuss the budget.

So far there have been two meetings and another two are planned for Feb. 12 and Feb. 26. But honestly the non-councillors on the committee are not coming up with brilliant ideas councillors wouldn't think of through their own discussions.

To me, the committee just seems like a big front so council can say they are being open and accountable with Town finances. It's just such a waste of time.

Instead of the committee meeting every other Monday, it should be councillors meeting as a Committee of the Whole to go through the budget, especially if they want to have it finished by the end of this month.

After all, the councillors are the ones who were elected to make the hard decisions. The others on the committee and anyone else in town should just attend budget meetings and offer their comments through that process. This committee is really not necessary.

I'm not trying to insult the residents on the committee, because they all know what they're talking about, but I think this method just isn't effective. The first meeting was more a training session than an occasion to decide what to cut in the budget to save money.

In Mono, the situation is somewhat different. There, three of the five council members were re-elected to serve this term, and considering it's a brand new mayor who is still finding her style, there hasn't been much of any disruption. But there is definitely a learning curve for the new mayor and councillor who have been looking to their experienced counterparts for guidance.

I find this council enjoys discussing topics in more detail than Orangeville and in some cases that's not a good thing, mainly if it's an item I'm not interested in because I then become bored.

However, their budget process is the way it should be done.

It involves a discussion and debate among councillors while residents listen and can ask questions or make comments.

That process is more time-efficient and will get the job done more quickly.

I also like the fact that Mono varies the timing of council meetings. The first meeting of the month is held in the evening and the second in the morning. This allows residents who can't make it to a morning session to attend in the evening, and vice-versa.