There will be fewer Yorkton Council meetings in 2017 following a decision by Council at its regular meeting.
Meeting will be held every three weeks moving forward in 2017, rather than every two weeks which has been the norm for a number of years. The recommendation for change came from Administration.
“Regular meetings of Council have for numerous years been scheduled for the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month, unless the date would fall on a Statutory holiday, in which case the meeting would be scheduled for the following week, resulting in a three-week separation,” explained Kathy Ritchie – Director of Legislation and Procedures (City Clerk) at the Monday meeting.
“Also, in the months when there are five Mondays, there ends up to be a three week separation between meetings as they are scheduled for the 2nd and 4th Mondays. Between Statutory Holidays and five Mondays in a month, during 2016, there were six occasions when the Council meetings were three weeks apart.
“Also, an exception is made for the months of July, August and December when there is only one Council meeting held in those months.
“While the reason for less meetings in these three months isn’t absolutely clear, it has been suggested that it was so that staff could have a lengthier break to allow for vacation time. Council have discussed that the summer break, which results in a six week (2016) or seven week (2017) separation between Council meetings, is too long of a spread and that consideration needs to be given to holding a meeting somewhere in-between this break.”
Ritchie noted many meetings recently have been rather short. She cited several reasons including;
*Established legislation, bylaws and policies, dictating decisions that Administration shall implement and thus those issues no longer needing to go to Council.
*Appeal Boards have been created to deal with appeals that use to come before Council (legislated authority)
*The development boom in the City has slowed down.
Ritchie said there are expectations of time savings with the move.
“In experiencing a three week separation between meetings, agenda length has increased and Administration has found that there are efficiencies gained,” she said.
As an example Ritchie cited “In the City Clerk’s Office, it is estimated that the Assistant City Clerk, in a two week meeting schedule, spends 71.5 per cent of her time preparing for the meeting and doing all of the follow up work. This is reduced to 57 per cent in a three week meeting schedule. This savings allows for more time to be spent on special projects that require additional attention …
“Administration staff are finding it much more efficient and valuable to have strategic planning meetings with Council to discuss various projects and issues and get a general idea of the direction that Council would want, before efforts are put into something that would clearly not be supported by Council or would be supported at a different angle. The decrease in regular Council meetings would free up more time for Strategic Planning Meetings.”
Ritchie said management was on-side with the recommendation.
“This report’s topic was discussed at Management Meetings and is supported by this group. There was a concern of the possibility of issues arising that may need to be dealt with in-between meetings. Should that happen there is always the provision to call a Special Meeting or take an e-mail poll and ratify the decision at the next regularly scheduled Council meeting – both of which have occurred in the past, as in the case with an emergency meeting required to ratify the declaration of a state of emergency, due to flooding,” she said.
In real terms “Over the past few years Council have on an average annual basis, 20 regular Council meetings and four strategic planning meetings. In going to a three week regular Council meeting schedule, there would be 17 regular Council meetings and the plan is to then have nine (9) strategic planning meetings (one per month, except for the months of July, August and December). Council would actually have a few more meetings to attend each year, and efficiencies and work production would be increased,” said Ritchie.
Councillor Aaron Kienle said initially he was hesitant to support change having limited experience with the usual schedule.
“I was a little bit nervous about changing the way things were done,” he said.
However Kienle said he grew to feel his mandate was to support positive change, and after reviewing the material believes the meeting schedule will “be very positive.” He added the work of Council will not change, only the timing of scheduled meetings.
Veteran Councillor Randy Goulden was of an opposite view. She said part of the responsibility of Council “is to be open to the public” and while strategic planning meetings are productive they are not open to the public.
“I want to be just as accessible … as we have been in the past.”
Mayor Bob Maloney said reducing the number of meetings has been discussed in the past, and did not proceed, adding he was not ready to go that direction now either.
However with new Councillors Kienle, Ken Chyz and Quinn Haider in favour of changing to every three weeks, the motion carried with Coun. Goulden and Mayor Maloney opposed.
Councillors Darcy Zaharia and Mitch Hippsley were not in attendance.
