By James Peters

City Hall

Kamloops council to keep holding its meetings during the light of day

Jun 18, 2019 | 2:45 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops council has shut down a move to alter the times it holds its regular public meetings and hearings.

At a Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday morning (June 18), staff told council it had heard from 11 comparable municipalities, finding most of them held evening meetings.

The staff report noted most of those municipalities found attendance at their meetings largely depended on what topics were being discussed — much like what happens with Kamloops afternoon meetings and evening public hearings.

Councillor Dale Bass proposed a pilot project that would see meeting times pushed later on days when no public hearings are scheduled.

“It is about accessibility and accountability. And even if we don’t get more people here — and we all know we get people based on topics like biosolids — we’re making it easier for them to come if they want to,” said Bass. “I appreciate that you can watch it online, but that’s not quite the same as being here and having the opportunity to ask at a public inquiry.”

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Councillor Denis Walsh agreed, and accused staff of bias by not presenting enough positives for later meeting times in its report.

“The point of doing the public meetings in a more public time is just for access. The report kind of implies that attendance is the number one push, but it’s not whether we get 40 people here; it’s just to have accessible time to have a meeting,” said Walsh.

A drawback of moving meeting times away from regular business hours is paying staff overtime to attend meetings, or flexing their schedules into the evening.

Councillor Bill Sarai told council he doesn’t see good reason to move the meetings.

“I like the meeting times now. I look at as the city running a business, so we need staff available to answer questions,” said Sarai. “You’ve got delegations that come in, you’ve got proclamations that we do, and if there are specific issues, we’re out there in the evening doing the neighbourhood engagements.”

Council voted against Bass’s motion by a 5-4 count, and did not provide council any further direction.