Councillors spent a lot of time last week discussing possible changes to the town’s procedural and notice bylaws, with little consensus on many issues.
Mayor Lou Maieron has suggested several changes to the procedural bylaw, but few have been universally supported by council.
“I don’t want the agenda changed all the time,” councillor Barb Tocher said last week in response to Maieron’s suggestion to hear staff reports earlier in council meetings.
Maieron has argued several times that moving up the reports will save the town money because certain staff members will be able to leave earlier, rather than hang around to give their reports later in the meeting.
But town manager Lisa Hass and several other councillors pointed out that often staff members stay late regardless for other items on the agenda.
Maieron also proposed moving to a “super-majority” (four votes) as the requirement to reconsider a previous decision by council, and not the simple majority (three votes) currently required. Yet no other councillors voiced support for that idea.
Tocher proposed the town eliminate monthly planning meetings and instead host a third regular council meeting, if needed, at the call of the mayor or council.
After making little progress on that issue and several other matters, Maieron decided more discussion was needed before council could consider a new procedural bylaw.
When it came to the town’s notice bylaw, again much time was spent discussing specifics, with no consensus among councillors.
Maieron argued for a minimum of seven days notice before council can schedule a new or special meeting, but other councillors argued Newspaper deadlines meant the minimum would be closer to 14 days, which was unrealistic if the matter at hand was at all urgent. Finally Tocher proposed a resolution that no changes at all be made to the current notice bylaw, which passed by a 4-1 vote, with only Maieron opposed.
