Door opens and closes on open budget meetings

Sharon McLeay
Times Contributor

 

A good intention to open the draft budget discussions to the public was announced on Oct. 30 by Strathmore CAO Dwight Stanford.
“We were excited about the idea,” said Stanford.
It was intended so the public could pop in and see how council and administration work together, watching how council decides where the money is spent. Discussions happen over a three-day weekend, the public could observe but they would not be able to comment on anything in the meeting.
The open meeting was posted on the town Facebook page.
However, later in the afternoon, it was decided that council would need to close the meeting, or go in camera, because there was information and many confidential issues and that fall under the Freedom of Information Protection Act that could not be discussed in public.
According to Deputy CAO Linda Nelson that was why the meeting was once again closed.
One resident questioned whether correct procedure was taken regarding the announcement.
Council would need to hold an emergency meeting and vote on a motion to allow public viewing of the budget discussions.
According to Section 194 of the Municipal Government Act, 24 hours notice from any posting is required prior to any emergency meeting.
The 24-hour time limit can be waived when an emergency meeting is called, if papers of direction were signed by two thirds of council, before calling for the meeting.
Councillor Rocky Blokland said that to his knowledge, no papers of direction for the waiver were presented for him to sign.
Open budget discussions would have been a first among many municipalities, as most don’t open working discussions, but present the final product to the public through regular council sessions.