Applications will soon be accepted for a new citizen-led commission that will advise the city of Langley.

During a city council meeting Monday night, council members took matters into their own hands.

A recommendation made by Mayor Scott Chaplin to create an ad hoc committee exploring the pros and cons of the formation of a new finance and personnel committee was rejected soundly by council members, who sought to expedite the process.

Councilmember Gail Fleming was the first to suggest axing the temporary committee. Instead, she proposed that the mayor should start collecting applications for a finance committee right away and interview candidates to be brought before the council for approval.

Her fellow council members were supportive of the measure.

“The previous council agreed we need the finance committee and I think we should get that going,” Councilmember Craig Cyr said.

Monica Felici, the city’s finance director, said members of the committee should be familiar with “government financing.”

The new committee would “deliberate and make recommendations on legislative matters relating to financial management of the city and its agents, the personnel system, the annual budget, taxes and fees, financial audits, appropriations, debts, claims, data processing, human rights and administration of city funds,” according to the city code.

The city of Langley has a total of 12 boards, commissions and committees. The council has spent the past month discussing the future of these entities, which is still to be determined.

The council agreed unanimously that the city should start seeking applications for a finance committee, which will assist on matters related to the city budget.

“That’ll give the paper something to write about,” Chaplin joked. “They formed another one.”