The City of North Bay is responding following public criticism and media coverage of Tuesday evening's Town Hall meeting, held in the North Bay Public Library's auditorium.
See related: Frustration, as no questions allowed at City Town Hall meeting
Four presenters who registered in advance with the clerk and provided their topic and an overview of their presentation were added to the agenda, each spoke for up to three minutes, and then fielded questions from the council.
Some audience members were frustrated by the lack of a question period for citizens following the meeting. The meeting was hosted by North Bay City Council and City of North Bay staff members were on hand to take notes.
An exchange of ideas over whether the evening's event should be labelled a true town hall meeting ensued between Mayor Peter Chirico and audience members.
"Whenever a quorum of council members meets, it's considered a public meeting under the Municipal Act," according to a statement from the City of North Bay. "To ensure these meetings run properly, they're guided by a procedural bylaw, which every municipality and local board is required to have.
"These bylaws outline the steps and rules for how meetings should be conducted, and town hall meetings are no exception — they also follow a formal structure as defined by the bylaw.
"At last night’s meeting, there was an opportunity for question-and-answers, but it was only for those who had registered in advance, as required by the procedural bylaw. The meeting details, including the need to register to speak, were well-publicized ahead of time. Those who didn’t register still had the chance to ask council members questions afterward."
As Mayor Chirico was about to adjourn the meeting, Linda Brown asked from her seat in the audience whether the council members would be taking questions. "I am wondering if there is an opportunity for our folks here tonight to ask some questions that they may have in mind?"
"Unfortunately, due to our Procedural By-Laws, which dictate public meetings, those are very clear as to what we can do, what we can't do. If there is that wish to do that by members of council, then the by-law will have to be changed," Chirico replied.
Another woman sitting in front of Brown in the audience told the council she sympathized with Brown's frustration.
"The Procedural By-Law prevents a spontaneous Town Hall type of questions that are on our minds and input from our council. Are you saying that, in order to have that kind of venue, the by-law has to be changed? Or, a new by-law put in place?" she asked.
"That's exactly it," Chirico agreed before heading out into the crowd to answer questions more personally. "We would have to amend our Procedural By-Law to allow for that.
The four presentations covered a range of topics. Martin Simard spoke about potential improvements to the active transportation network with the addition of more multi-use trails; two presenters, Barb Laverock and Granny Arseneault, suggested moving to a ward system, with Arseneault proposing a referendum on the matter; Cindy Lalande advocated for the stricter enforcement of the idling by-law; and, Laverock also brought up the continued use of Jake brakes by transport trucks on Thibeault Hill.
The entire meeting took less than 30 minutes.
