Toronto city council will meet for the first time on Tuesday, and it will be a smaller governing body since the new four-year term began on Saturday.

Tuesday afternoon’s meeting will be largely ceremonial. Mayor John Tory will make a speech to mark the beginning of the term. Tory and 25 councillors will take their declarations of office as well as elect a council speaker and deputy speaker.

Twenty-two council members are returning for another term. Mike Colle, Brad Bradford, Cynthia Lai and Jennifer McKelvie are joining Toronto city council after being elected on Oct. 22.

Council will then recess until Wednesday morning when they will consider a report from City of Toronto staff. It said the number of committees and council appointments needs to be slashed to accommodate the new 25-ward system.

Toronto residents were set to elect 47 councillors in the October election, but Premier Doug Ford announced at the end of July — hours before nominations were set to close — that his government would move to reduce the number of council seats to 25 through the Better Local Government Act. A decision by the Court of Appeal for Ontario cleared the way for a 25-ward election as an appeal continues to make its way through the court system.

The report being considered on Wednesday said the City of Toronto’s governance structure needs to be “recalibrated” so agencies, boards and committees can function effectively. Without changes, staff said governing “would be challenged to remain effective and sustainable.”

“[The Act] will place increased demands on council members’ time to carry out both their legislative and constituency duties. City councillors now serve wards of significantly larger geographic size and up to double the number of constituents,” the report said.

“Without changes to the governance structure, council members would … experience difficulty attending all required meetings, potentially causing quorum issues (the required number of representatives for a meeting to proceed) and impairing the ability of committees and boards to function effectively.”

It also called for the creation of a special governance committee to re-evaluate the interim recommended structure.

On Dec. 13, council will meet again to vote on appointing the mayor and councillors to agencies, boards and committees. The meeting will also consider urgent motions by council.

Aside from figuring out governance issues, there are several pressing issues facing the mayor and councillors is allowing cannabis retail locations within Toronto’s boundaries. The Ontario government imposed an opt-out deadline of Jan. 22 for the province’s municipalities.

Council will also need to start delving into planning and implementing the City’s 2019 $11-billion operating budget soon. It will also need to address major transit- and housing-related issues, such as the downtown relief line and creating new, affordable units.

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