District of Squamish council unanimously reversed a decision on Tuesday (Feb. 2) that would've granted the mayor the power to refuse citizens an audience after a local resident sounded the alarm.
During a Jan. 18 council meeting, Terrill Patterson told members it was "troubling" that proposed changes to procedures would significantly impede the public's access to council.
The proposed bylaw would allow the mayor to deny a request to speak to council. A member of the public could only address council if three-quarters of its members chose to overturn the decision. Patterson said this makes accessing local politicians unnecessarily difficult.
"I believe local government being the closest one to the people should be the easiest one for the people to access," he said at the time.
At Tuesday's council meeting, council unanimously rescinded the third reading of the procedural bylaw and debated approaches to ensure the public's access to council.
"I think it's a great bylaw in many many respects," said Lonsdale. "But one shortcoming is that we, in some respects due to this bylaw, have put up some barriers, so I have a little bit of concerns."
Lonsdale urged council to consider redefining the open question period designated for the end of each meeting to include any items of concern, not just items on the agenda.
Currently the open question period only allows for questions from the public and media regarding clarification, but Lonsdale urged the period should not be restricted to clarifying queries and should rather only have a 15-minute time limit.
"That would enable members of the public to quickly ask a question or make a point and have council be able to respond," she said.
Coun. Patricia Heintzman said she could support allowing unscheduled public appearances at council meetings but noted additional stipulations must exist including the 15-minute time limit. She added the issue must also prove to require immediate attention from the council.
Coun. Paul Lalli said he'd prefer not to have an open question period, but rather have members of the public apply to appear before council, as the previous bylaw required.
Mayor Greg Gardner said he also prefers to revert to public applications for appearances.
"Just to be clear, I couldn't support us allowing anyone coming here and having a right to speak to anything at any council meeting. I think we have business to do here and it's serious business and there have to be processes in place," Gardner said.
Lonsdale moved to amend the procedural bylaw to include unscheduled public appearances on issues arising after deadline, but which requires immediate attention.
Council also agreed to amend formal notice of council meetings. The district will not only post a meeting notice in Municipal Hall but also advertise it in the paper.
Third reading of the amended bylaw was unanimously supported.
The public now has until March 3 to provide input to the amended procedural bylaw.
