City looks for greater transparency, input with changes

Under the current structure, some of the executive committee meetings have only run for 45 minutes and there has been little discussion to be had. Dionne questions the level of accountability and the amount of openness in such short meetings.

“The new process is going to be more questions and answers from council to administration … and people are going to hear that debate and maybe understand better why they made that recommendation and why we’re going that direction and … it’s all about feedback and I hope at the end of the day it’s more successful than the last process, but if it’s not, we’ll change again.”

One of the biggest differences will be the purpose of the executive committee meetings. No longer will they be a dress rehearsal for council meetings, but they will now be a place where administration can bring forth policy ideas and elected officials and the public could have an opportunity to mould those ideas months before they go to council for a final decision.

As well as the enhanced lead time on policy discussions, the executive committee will include a public portion and an in camera portion, if the latter is needed. Committee members, administration and the public will have a chance to hear and discuss policy, plans and bylaw proposals. Information-only items, where no decision is required – ones that usually result in a “receive and file” – will be on the agenda.

The in camera portion of the meeting will cover land, legal and labour issues, as well as the City’s annual and long-term audit plan.

City council will remain the decision body, and it will continue to approve bylaws, policies and items that will have an effect on the budget. Reports requiring a decision by council, as well as public hearings, will be on the agenda.

The frequency of meetings will change. Executive committee meetings will be held every three weeks, starting Feb. 9, and council meetings will also be held every three weeks starting on Feb. 23.

Coun. Lee Atkinson, who has been representing Ward 3 since 2000, is welcoming the changes. He said one of the disadvantages of the old structure was that members of the public would think items were passed at the executive committee meetings.

“In some cases, you were fighting opposition to things that weren’t exactly true, or that we turned them down or reversed them or did something else, so people got all upset about things that never really happened.”

Atkinson hopes the new structure gives the public an opportunity to hear about the options, objectives and considerations for a particular topic before it gets to the decision-making stage.

“I think that’ll be a more positive thing for the public, and hopefully, it’ll give them an opportunity to participate in that as well.”

But there’s also the opportunity to flesh out policies before a decision is made. For Atkinson, he feels the changes could mean bylaws won’t keep going back to council for amendments over and over because there’s a “nuance” in the community or there’s something that they didn’t think of.

“So, hopefully, I think that will give the public more strength of conviction as to the policies and decisions we’re making, that they’[ve] actually been well thought out and hopefully that lets people move forward with the things they need to do.”

Charting the course for change

Sherry Person has been with the City for about two decades, and last year, she took on the role of city clerk. During her first six months as city clerk, she worked on the framework for the restructuring of council and committee meeting procedures.

Person took the comments made by members of council and administration into account. She reviewed the bylaws of other cities in the province and went to Regina, where she attended an executive committee meeting.

As well, city manager Jim Toye brought ideas to the table with him from his previous experience in the City of North Battleford.

When she looked at the structure that had been in existence, she felt there was no mechanism for administration and council to have a conversation about significant matter that were coming forward. For the public, the old structure only offered them a week between an issue being brought up initially during the executive committee meeting and a decision being made at council.

“Where, I think in this new process, it’s going to come up for conversation probably months before the actual bylaw or policy comes forward, so they’re going to have the ability to hear some of that conversation which … I don’t think the public were ever able to hear too much conversation regarding how administration [came] to those conclusions and things like that.”

Person said she found council was becoming frustrated with administration, because its members felt they weren’t being heard. She also felt administration was frustrated because its staff felt they had no way to properly communicate with council.

She said she could sense that the public was also feeling frustrated – that items were just being approved.

Under the new structure, items will be discussed at the executive committee meeting and covered by the media, Person said. And it’ll give the public time to call administration or write a letter, and those things will be forwarded to city council and taken into consideration when the item is up for a decision at council.

“I think that’s the benefit that we were looking for, and I think that’s the largest benefit we were looking for,” she said. The public will also have a chance to hear more of the conversations between administration and council.

“I do think council will be able to have those open discussions that [are] expected and that the public wants to hear and they will take place.”

Members of the public will be able to submit their correspondence for consideration by the Tuesday before the next council or executive committee meeting. But if anyone wants to submit correspondence for consideration between then and the meetings, Person won’t turn those submissions away. She said she will bring them forward for council’s review and council can approve the correspondence when it’s approving the meeting agenda.

An important part of this is engaging the public. Person said this can be done by making the public more aware of the items on the agenda.

“I think in the coming year … that’s what we’re looking for. We’re looking [for] if people have ideas of how that may happen, we would be more than happy to take that into account and find a way.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames

by Thia James

City looks for greater transparency, input with changes

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