Canmore council passed several amendments to its procedural bylaw to improve how the public participates at meetings.
Municipal clerk Cheryl Hyde presented the changes to address processes for recording formal public submissions to council at business meetings and public hearings.
Hyde said the amendments aim to provide greater consistency and public accountability.
“I think it is important our process evolve,” she said, “so we maintain fairness and transparency as there are more and different kinds of public submissions.
“Ultimately, this is your procedural bylaw; it needs to work for you and you need to be confident it works for members of the public that are submitting.”
One area that was updated was to provide more clarity of the process council follows after elected officials hear from a delegation.
The process currently, said Hyde, is that it is referred to the next meeting and at that subsequent meeting council can decide if it wants administration to come back with a recommendation.
However, if council wants to make a decision at the same meeting it hears from a delegation it can pass a motion to add it to the agenda. Hyde said changes to the bylaw make the process clear as to how that happens.
Another area she asked to have changed was how questions from the public are recorded in meeting minutes. Hyde said questions and answers can be spontaneous.
“The challenge we see with question period is that a member of the public asking questions often expects the question and answer to be recorded verbatim in the minutes,” she said. “And they often see the answer (given by the mayor or administration) as a decision or reflecting the opinion of all council. So I struggle with how to record them properly in the minutes and how they fit in with our regular procedure.”
The change to the bylaw approved by council was to consider questions of the public before the meeting is called to order and the minutes reflect only decisions of council.
The way public submissions are recorded at public hearings was also expanded upon in the bylaw to have three official records made. The first would be the agenda that goes out ahead of time for a public hearing. The second would be a record of public submissions – compiled with all submissions made up until and including the hearing.
Finally, the third record would be the minutes of the hearing. Hyde said minutes would record the names of everyone who provided a written or verbal statement with a brief synopsis of their position and whether they were in support, opposition or neutral.
The process does not allow pre-recorded audio or video unless council votes to accept it and sets out that after the public hearing there are no more submissions to council.
“The idea of this is that at the public hearing everyone hears the same evidence, it is very transparent and there is accountability,” Hyde said. “We want to prevent the opportunity or perception of opportunity that submissions can be made that are not subject to public scrutiny.”
Mayor John Borrowman noted that is how council operates currently as an unwritten rule and having it made clear in the bylaw as a procedure is important.
“All members of council go into a public hearing with the same information,” said the mayor.
Councillor Joanna McCallum put forward an unsuccessful motion to make it clear that members of the public shall refrain from applause as it “speaks to the ability to have presentations made in an atmosphere that is safe.”
“I don’t think sometimes people understand that their applause is not necessarily orderly,” she said, adding it may also intimidate other members of the public that do not share their position on a bylaw that is being considered at a public hearing.
Borrowman said he is not overly concerned about the issue to have it included in the bylaw. As chair of a meeting, he said, the mayor is in charge of maintaining order and the Municipal Government Act gives the authority to eject people.
“Next thing you know we will put in a bylaw that you can’t glare at people,” he said. “It can be impossible to stop an emotional crowd from showing emotion and it really comes down to the chair being able to control that.”
