Guelph-Eramosa councillor contemplates change to meeting schedule

by Chris Daponte

BRUCEDALE

Long weekends are nice, but they may be throwing a real kink in the meeting schedule for Guelph-Eramosa council.

That was the message councillor Doug Breen brought to council on Monday night when staff unveiled a preliminary meeting schedule for 2013.

Breen pointed out that six out of the 22 regularly scheduled meetings for next year take place on the Monday of a long weekend, which means they are pushed to the following day.

That tends to confuse township residents, who expect council to meet on Mondays, and it also messes with personal schedules, Breen said.

He suggested the municipality could meet on the second and fourth Mondays of each month - instead of the current first and third Mondays - to eliminate much of the confusion (council meets only once in the months of July and August).

Councillor Corey Woods noted that if council does make the change to the second and fourth Mondays, there would still be two 2013 meetings that would fall on a holiday and be moved to the next day: Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day. But he agreed two is better than six.

“I think it makes sense,” Mayor Chris White added.

Council agreed to defer approval of the 2013 schedule until its next meeting on Oct. 1.

While he was personally in favour of the change, Breen said township staff should investigate before the October meeting to ensure the change would be okay with township staff as well as staff at MHBC planning, the township’s planning firm.

Breen said staff should also ensure the move would not complicate anything with county council schedules.

September 21, 2012