Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Greater Napanee council members returned to their old stomping grounds of town hall for their April 26 meeting to discuss some potentially radical changes to how meetings could be conducted in the near future.
A report outlining some proposed changes to procedural by-law submitted by town clerk Jessica Walters was among the most debated sections of the agenda of the meeting. Tuesday’s meeting also marked the first time council had met for a meeting inside town hall since March of 2020-though the town did continue with the practice of streaming the meeting live on the town’s YouTube channel, marking the first ever meeting to be streamed from within the town’s chambers.
After several minutes of debate over Walters’ report, council decided it warranted its own separate meeting, which will be held prior to the June 28 regular council meeting, at which point the report is currently scheduled to be presented to council for consideration. Last week’s report was merely an overview of potential suggestions-though they did carry some pretty big implications. Proposes ranged from minor-such as scheduling ‘comfort breaks’ every two hours, using plain language to describe parliamentary procedures and updating deputation rules-to major ones such as abandoning the twice a month meeting schedule to adopting a once a month meeting plan, coupled with a monthly working session, possibly held in the early morning.
Deputy mayor Max Kaiser was in favour of exploring altercations to the meeting schedule.
“Certainly I support evolution,” said Kaiser. “I don’t know where you get to the point where we’re bigger than we were and not as big as Kingston or something in-between. Evolution is evolution. I think the changes are important, I’m looking at the clock right now and seeing we’re approaching 9:30 p.m. and likely to go well later than 10 p.m. Certainly I think it’s time, the evolution has come that it’s time to start making changes to lighten the burden.”
Kaiser noted while councillors sign up for the possibility of late meetings, town staff is expected to attend meetings after putting in a full day’s work.
Councillor Dave Pinnell Jr. expressed his objections to some of the major amendments.
“Some of the minor changes I’m ok with,” said Pinnell Jr. “Going from there and having a mandatory stop at 10 p.m., as you can see, this report kind of contradicts itself a bit because if we have a mandatory stop at 10 p.m. and put whatever we don’t do into unfinished business, and put it over to the next meeting, but then we reduce our meetings down to one a month, I can see this just being piling on and piling on. Therefor I’m against having only one meeting a month.”
Councillor Terry Richardson also had reservations about the report, particularly given there’s a municipal election coming up in October.
“At this point we are three and a half years into a term of council, we are going to try to suggest how the next term of council does what they do and I don’t think that’s fair on the next council,” said Richardson. “Let’s face it, the next council could look significantly different than what this council looks like, it could look very similar, but I think that’s a decision that the next council should have to make.”
Mayor Marg Isbester said the report was compiled based on input from current council members.
“We are probably one of, and it doesn’t make it right, we are probably one of the only municipalities in Eastern Ontario that operates the way that we do in that we have two regular council meetings and no committee of the whole and also no committee structure,” said Isbester. “I would rather see a line plotted and a way of going forward plotted for the next council to follow. We have five new (councillors elected) last time and then COVID so it took even longer. You did know the times of meeting and so forward and times of meetings aren’t etched in stone. I think it’s time we look at modernizing the way that we react with the public and including them in more.”
Walters added by making any changes this summer, they could make them known to candidates when they file their papers ahead of the upcoming municipal election.
“We’re not trying to get staff to work less hours,” added Isbester. “We’re not trying to get council to work less hours. We’re trying to find a structure that gets us out of these chambers before midnight and committee of the whole is something that does that.”
A tentative meeting for an education session on the proposed changes for council has been scheduled for May 31.
-Following up on a discussion at the March 22 meeting, council voted to officially dissolve the Greater Napanee BIA. Discussions continue on the possible creation of a Downtown Merchants Support.
-Council voted to grant a noise exemption for the Ride for Dad Prostate Cancer Research event, which will be held July 22-24 at the Napanee Fairgrounds. The event will feature a car show as well as the broadcast of a live Eagles concert onto a big screen.
-Council approved a handful of proclamations-May 10 as World Lupus Day, May 13 at Falun Dafa Day, the week of May 22-28 as Victorian Order of Nurses Week and June 19 as Longest Day of Smiles. More information about each day can be found on the town’s website.