North Bay senior staff members are reporting back to Council with options on how to handle town hall meetings and their place in the procedural by-law moving forward.
Nothing will be decided during the next regular meeting of council scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 11, but the report generated by Peter Leckie, the city solicitor, and Karen McIsaac, the city clerk, comes with a recommendation to refer the matter to the general government committee for a discussion of the options for town hall meetings.
See related: Councillor Inch wants to fix 'disappointing' town hall meetings
This report comes as a direct result of an ill-received town hall event held in September 2024 and a subsequent motion in October 2024 from Councillors Sara Inch and Jamie Lowery calling for a review of the procedural by-laws for town hall meetings to allow more public participation at the events.
See also: Council all-in on improving engagement at town hall meetings
The motion received unanimous support around the council table and made its way to the council chambers after frustrated citizens expressed their displeasure about the lack of engagement on display at a Sept. 24, 2024, town hall meeting hosted at the North Bay Public Library by the municipality and its council. According to the report, the concerns brought forward through the local media and social media centred on format, forum, scheduled meeting time, registration requirements, advertising, technology, and the amount of time permitted to speak.
See: Frustration, as no questions allowed at City Town Hall meeting
Mayor Peter Chirico was pressed during the meeting by members of the audience to open the floor for a question-and-answer session. Chirico declined citing restrictions under the procedural by-law.
"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 said.
See also: City responds to citizens' frustration over Town Hall meeting
The report presents four options for consideration:
Option 1: Remain status quo.
Option 2: Amend the Procedural By-Law to eliminate Town Hall Meetings.
Option 3: Amend the Procedural By-Law to remove Town Hall Meetings from the By-Law and the City adopt a Policy for holding Open Houses that are topic specific.
Option 4: Amend the Procedural By-Law to have Town Hall Meetings remain in the By-Law but the procedures be amended as follows:
- i) Be on a specific topic that is chosen from a survey of the citizens of the municipality.
- ii) Questions from members of the public shall be in relation to the topic as determined in section (i) above and shall be directed to the Members of Council.
- iii) No registration required.
- iv) Town Hall Meetings will be held at the call of the Presiding Officer. The Presiding Officer will determine the date, time and location of the Town Hall Meeting. Town Hall Meetings will be two (2) hours in length.
- v) All other procedures remain the same as set out in sections 10.2, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.8 and 10.9, of the City of North Bay Procedural By-Law 2019-80.
A previous version of the procedural by-law allowed for an unlimited number of unscheduled five-minute presentations by the public. Fred Dean, an attorney with 20 years of municipal experience at the time, who continues to work in public service, peer-reviewed the by-law and suggested, "Unscheduled presentations put Council at risk of being ambushed and suggested Town Hall Meetings in the place and stead of those presentations," per the report. "As Town Hall Meetings are set out in the Procedural By-Law they are governed by it, including the Rules of Decorum and the requirement for prior registration by the participants where they provide a brief outline of the presentation."
"The town hall experience was disappointing and the public has asked for the procedural by-laws around town hall meetings to be amended. I agree," said Inch in early October 2024 when she gave notice of her intent to bring the motion forward.
"This has been driven by some of the feedback from the town hall meeting," said Lowery in October 2024. "There were a number of people looking for the opportunity to speak to council ... it's important there is some kind of mechanism to bring people into the discussion with council ... Typically there is an opportunity for community members to speak to council and ask questions. Obviously, we might not have the answers right then but we can help direct some of the inquiries and that's the work of council."
The eventual successful passing of that motion directed the city solicitor and city clerk to review the town hall meeting procedures and bring forward suggested changes to those procedures. Staff consulted four municipalities on their best practices and also reviewed procedural by-laws from another 64 municipalities.
"Council will have the opportunity to provide input on changes to the town hall by-law," stated Inch, "as it is council's by-law. The process will begin with a report, which will be referred to committee for review, followed by input from council members. To ensure best practices, we are also reviewing by-laws from other municipalities ... After council's feedback is incorporated, a public meeting will be held, as required by the process."
The City of North Bay responded to the criticism
The City of North Bay issued a statement in the aftermath of the town hall meeting and the restrictive language contained in the by-law.
"Whenever a quorum of council members meets, it's considered a public meeting under the Municipal Act. 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 [that] 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."
The report also highlights the low level of engagement the meetings have with members of the public, who, it is noted, can contact members of the council through regular mail, email, telephone, social media, in-person meetings, and by registering to make a public presentation during a council meeting.
The meeting was promoted for 18 days from September 6, 2024, to September 24, 202,4 via the City's social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, plus paid advertising through Meta, reaching more than 4,500 accounts. A PSA was shared with local media and was picked up by most local outlets and radio stations.
Despite all this advertising, the media reported that only 16 people attended the meeting. While the by-law states town hall meetings will run for two hours, the meeting in question adjourned after 30 minutes.