Council and staff in Prince Edward County have a new procedural by-law in place.
Councillors approved the updated procedural by-law during their regular meeting on Tuesday night.
The approval came following another evening of lengthy discussion, as council and staff wanted to make sure the rules guiding them going forward were not only clear to them but the public.
Clerk Catalina Blumenberg noted many of the changes made to the policy were made in an effort to promote transparency.
Councillors once again discussed the matter regarding deputations to which a council decision has already been made and tweaked the language slightly to make sure new information or a new angle was brought forward so councillors were not hearing the same discussions and opinions on a topic over and over again.
An item which saw much discussion at a special meeting last month to discuss the procedural by-law was deputations. The by-law states those who wish to provide a deputation may participate in-person, or electronically, but the limit of three deputations per meeting was scratched.
Amy Bodman and Paula Peel spoke during the meeting on Tuesday night and stated their concerns with a deputant being required to make their deputation request five days prior to a meeting and provide their materials four days in advance to the Clerk.
Bodman said this simply doesn’t allow the public sufficient time and council should aim for procedural fairness, which is not achieved currently.
Publishing a draft agenda ten days in advance was also discussed to help provide the public with a better idea as to what issues would be coming up at future meetings, but CAO Marcia Wallace noted this council already has a very heavy meeting schedule and publishing an agenda that far in advance may not be possible.
Councillors added a motion to the procedural by-law which would give councillors the ability to give notice they wish to place an item for discussion on the agenda prior to the next meeting, unless the matter is of a time sensitive nature, in which a two thirds majority could see the item placed on that day’s agenda.
The by-law allows for hybrid meetings, as a member of council, a committee or local board may participate electronically in open or closed meetings provided they give the clerk 24 hours notice to participating electronically.
