Niagara-on-the-Lake councillors overwhelmed by their meeting schedule continues to be an issue raised at town hall.
Before a lengthy debate and consideration of an information report regarding the flow and length of planning meetings, an issue raised on several occasions by Coun. Gary Burroughs, a similar concern was raised by Coun. Wendy Cheropita during Tuesday’s council meeting when she asked if some adjustments could be made to what appears to be a busy Tuesday, Oct. 31, for local elected officials.
A budget review committee meeting is set for 9:30 a.m., as well as a committee-of-the-whole meeting at 6 p.m.
Cheropita asked whether it would be possible to merge both meetings instead of holding them so far apart in one day.
“We published this calendar already in advance,” responded Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa.
Crowded and hectic public meetings have been a bone of contention for Burroughs, and he reiterated during last Tuesday’s council meeting that he wants changes made.
“I know staff are working very hard,” said Burroughs, noting that preparation for meetings needs to be considered.
“If you’re reviewing all this work, it takes a lot of time,” he added, before council had even started discussing an information report from staff about options regarding planning meetings – brought on by previous concerns he has raised.
Coun. Maria Mavridis said she’d like to see meetings not spread out as much, but that she also understands now is perhaps the busiest time of year, and that council’s schedule isn’t always as crowded as it has been in recent weeks.
“It is a lot of reading, but it only happens around budget time,” she said.
Coun. Sandra O’Connor also said she’s open to one day of meetings, which would allow members to take care of the “significant preparation” they need to ahead of time.
Coun. Nick Ruller also said he doesn’t like meetings being “sprinkled” throughout the week, noting it’s “very difficult to balance the competing interest of a family and full-time career.”
But Zalepa told council it’s up to them to create the schedule, which is what they did for 2023.
“I appreciate the feedback and I’ll make sure staff have heard that,” he said. “We’ll look at that for the 2024 calendar,” he added.
Councillors also discussed a staff report that included options on how committee planning meetings can be more efficient.
Through a motion made by Mavridis, council endorsed two of those options – the first related to the amount of time speakers are given.
Currently, members of the public who wish to speak to a planning application are allotted up to 10 minutes, according to the town’s procedural bylaw.
Staff said this could be reduced to five minutes per speaker. The chair should also continue to encourage those who wish to speak only to bring up new items that other previous speakers have not raised, the staff report said.
Coun. Erwin Wiens suggested there should be better enforcement of speakers not being repetitive.
“Rarely have I ever heard that — someone stopping a speaker and saying ‘we’ve already heard that,’” said Wiens, adding that possibly people are not being interrupted “because we don’t want to offend our residents.”
He also said it’s common to see dozens of speakers registered, while only hearing “maybe three or four points” raised collectively.
Burroughs asked if staff would be able to filter individuals who register into categories of those who actually plan to deliver remarks, separate from people who simply want to show support or opposition to one side of an issue or project.
“That might be a substantially smaller list if we can focus on the ones who want to speak,” said Burroughs.
In response, clerk Grant Bivol said, “we already do that.”
The second option supported by council relates to written comments.
The town’s procedural bylaw specifies if a member of the public submits written correspondence on an application, they cannot speak to the same items at the public meeting, but this is not being enforced, the report says.
Many people who submit written comments also present the same information in person, but due to reporting timelines, often correspondence is received after a report is finalized and doesn’t end up being included in the report.
Staff say they could prepare an addendum info package with any written correspondence on an application to in the Monday agenda package so that all written correspondence received is provided to council at the public meeting.
“Further, staff could identify the summary of comments in the staff presentation, and the clerk could announce that comments have been received and provided at the beginning of the public portion of the meeting,” reads the option.
Another option that would involve additional meetings to the calendar was shot down by council through Mavridis’ motion.
Staff also suggested they be given authority to make decisions over minor planning applications, and shorten the process of making recommendations to council, reducing the time spent by councillors dealing with those issues. They plan to continue that discussion with council at a later date.
