Opportunity for more public engagement with City Council begins tonight

Council members at the January 9th session, 
a new approach to community participation at Council sessions
will get underway with tonight's final meeting for the month

If Prince Rupert residents want it, there's an opportunity for more public engagement with City Council members at Council Sessions starting with tonight's meeting.

Following approval earlier this month of changes to the Council Procedures Bylaw, a new approach to Council sessions will launch this evening, with a shift in how the Council sessions move forward and opportunity for residents to comment on the agenda and other items of concern as part of the new procedure set to launch.

The first indication of the change to how Council does things comes from a review of the Agenda which features some new elements and makes for a streamlined approach to the process ahead.

As for the community participation elements, the Agenda notes of an opportunity at the start of the session for members of the public to comment on Agenda items at the start of the session. 

As well, at the end those in attendance at the Council Chamber can speak to any topics they may have at the end of the session, as part of the Councillors Comments portion of the evening.

With more opportunity to participate, it could help spur on some increased interest in Council proceedings and more importantly, energize the community to provide guidance to Council members as they face some challenges ahead, particularly through the community budget process, or how to replace the aging infrastructure for the community to name a couple of areas of note.

Opening up the meetings more to the public may also mean that issues that percolate on social media or in the coffee shops may get a more extensive hearing and reply from Council members as they are presented to them.

We outlined some background to the changes and the city's public engagement plans of November with this item at the time.

You can review how the Council session  tonight and those in the future will move forward from the Agenda package for tonight's Session.

More notes on what's ahead for tonight can be examined from our Council Preview items.

As well a wider overview of past council themes is available through our Council Discussion archive.