HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-01-28, Page 11THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016. PAGE 11.
NH considers removing public forum from agendas
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
North Huron Township is
considering significant changes to its
procedural bylaw based in part on
recommendations from the Ontario
Ombudsman's office.
Among the changes are the
removal of the public forum portion
of council's meetings and recording,
in some manner, in -camera sessions
in the event meetings are ever
challenged.
The bylaw includes instructions
for how council should operate, how
individual councillors should
behave and how meetings should be
held.
Chief Administrative Officer
Sharon Chambers presented a draft
procedural bylaw during council's
Jan. 19 meeting that included 33
changes to the document, some
minor while others, such as the
public forum section, represent
significant changes to the document.
Council accepted the report and
draft document for future action and
discussed some of the changes.
Councillor Bill Knott started the
discussion saying that he would like
to see at least one council per year
held in each of the East Wawanosh
and Blyth Wards.
"We have done that before," he
said. "We need to represent the
wards and have people involved."
Knott also mentioned that he had
seen reports indicating that closed
meetings should be recorded and
kept by the municipality's clerk in
the event there is an investigation.
He proposed a change to that effect.
Chambers, however, said she had
not seen any information regarding
audio and video recording but has
seen references to detailed note -
keeping.
"That bears further investigation,"
she said.
Councillor Brock Vodden stated
he had an issue with a proposed
change to Section 8.3 which outlines
the role of council. The proposed
change would require council to
contact staff prior to a meeting if
they have technical questions about
a particular issue.
"To say we can't bring up what
matters seems heavy-handed," he
said.
Chambers explained the intent is
that it allows staff to have technical
information on hand for the
questions, not to stifle council's right
to questions.
"If something occurs throughout a
meeting, council is welcome to bring
it up," she said.
Vodden also requested an
additional change that would remove
a religious ceremony from Section 5
of the bylaw, which stipulates how
meetings are handled.
"Section 5.2 part D talks about a
Service of Invocation performed by
clergy to be chosen by the Reeve
[during the first meeting of a new
session of council]," Vodden
explained. "I feel that violates our
rights."
Chambers explained the clause is
typical in procedural bylaws, but
council could amend it.
"My view is to remove it all
together," Vodden said later in the
discussion. "In view of the fact that
we are serving a diverse public with
all sorts of religious affiliations and
non -affiliations, by always bringing
in a certain element we are
discriminating."
Vodden compared having a clergy
present to bless a council to the fact
that religion was removed from the
opening exercises in public schools
in the past.
"It's inappropriate in 2016 to have
that in our procedures," he said.
Vodden's motion to have the item
removed failed with no one
seconding it. He said after that it
should be challenged.
Council also commented on the
potential removal of the
open forum section from council
meetings.
"I think the public comment
section is important," Councillor
Trevor Seip said. "I've stated before
many times that public information
we get is valuable providing it's
constructive... It gives us a chance to
review what the issues [and]
concerns are."
Knott agreed to some extent,
saying he wanted people to be able
to state their intent as late as 4:30
p.m. on the day of a council meeting
to ask questions about an issue on
the agenda. He took the model from
Chatham -Kent's council procedures.
"I think that's a decent way to do
this rather than eliminating
questions," he said. "I still like to see
that public input."
Chambers, however, said the
intent was to formalize council
meetings. She said council, staff and
ratepayers need to know what is on
the agenda because the minutes
often don't capture the public forum
portion of the meeting.
"In light of the way that things are
moving forward with the new rules
under the Ombudsman, we need
more formal rules... to document and
provide formal responses from
council," she said. "This tightens up
that process."
Chambers also said to remember
that the meetings are public in that
the public can attend and view them,
but not public in that they "don't
have the right to participate."
"Council is to debate issues
among each other," she said. "That is
what has been incorporated into this
procedural bylaw and many others."
Knott then suggested holding
quarterly "town hall" style meetings
where ratepayers could inform
council of concerns they have, an
idea which was supported by other
councillors.
The changes suggested by council,
such as Knott's suggestion of
meetings being held in Blyth and
East Wawanosh, the proposed town
hall meetings to replace the open
forum and closed meeting recording
were carried and will be considered
under a new draft bylaw.
Vanastra to be featured on CBC's `Still Standing'
`Still Standing'
Vanastra will be featured on CBC's television show `Still
Standing' which shines a spotlight on communities that are
in existence despite facing great adversity. The show's host,
comedian and actor Jonny Harris, shown above, will
perform a stand-up show as part of the show's filming.
(Photo submitted)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
The Huron East community of
Vanastra will be featured in an
upcoming episode of the CBC's Still
Standing.
Economic Development Officer
Jan Hawley spoke about the
upcoming production at council's
Jan. 12 meeting, saying that a 13 -
member crew will be in the
community Feb. 1-5, with a live
show scheduled for the final day.
Hawley invited councillors to
participate in the live show featuring
host Jonny Harris. She hopes to have
between 200 and 300 people there to
help show community spirit at the
Vanastra Community Christian
Reformed Church.
The show, Hawley told
councillors, aims to profile
communities with rich histories that
have endured rough economic
challenges, but are, as the title of the
show implies, still standing.
The process, Hawley said, began
late last summer when she was
contacted by Maya Bilbao, a
researcher for a production company
that works with the CBC program.
She said that the unique history of
the former Royal Canadian Air
Force (RCAF) base was what
initially captured the attention of the
producers.
In her report, Hawley told
councillors that the competition to
be featured in the 2016 season was
fierce and Vanastra was chosen as
one of 22 communities that will be
featured, with the episode likely to
air this summer.
The live show will be filmed at the
Vanastra Community Christian
Reformed Church on Friday, Feb. 5.
Doors will open at 6 p.m. and
admittance will be on a first-come,
first-served basis.
In an interview with The Citizen
after the council meeting, Hawley
said that one of the aspects of the
community that really attracted
producers is the community spirit in
Vanastra. That specifically is
something she hopes to show off
during the live portion of the show
early next month.
She said she couldn't have been
more surprised when she was told
Vanastra had been selected for the
2016 season.
After the initial work last summer,
Hawley says she forgot about it
before being informed late last year
that the production was to go ahead.
She says Vanastra is such an
interesting community, especially
when considering its military history
and the development of radar. She
hopes to tell that story during the
CBC production.
In addition to the live show,
several important figures in
Vanastra's history will be featured
on camera as well — Hawley being
one of them.
She says she hates being filmed
for television, but was persuaded by
the program's producers to speak
about Vanastra and Huron East and
all they have to offer.
For more information about the
live show, contact Hawley by phone
at 519-527-0160 or by e-mail at
jhawley@huroneast.com.
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