Council has demanded more communication lines with Squamish's mayor.
At last Tuesday's (May 21) District of Squamish council meeting, Coun. Ted Prior requested that Mayor Rob Kirkham provide council with weekly updates on his meetings and discussions. After talking with politicians from other municipalities, Prior said some mayors invite councillors to attend their meetings. Prior said he's never been invited to any of Kirkham's meetings and often feels outside the loop.
"I just haven't experienced that. I sometimes learn about things in the newspaper that I should have learned here," he said.
A lack of communication with council could lead to missed business opportunities, Prior said. Councillors offer differing expertise and opinions, which may open doors to proposals, he said.
"I am not worried about business. I am worried about missing business," he said.
Currently, the mayor produces reports every two weeks, Kirkham said, noting he had no objections to compiling weekly reports.
"The business of council is done at this table and not at some meetings that are not open to council," Kirkham emphasized.
Coun. Doug Race, who along with Coun. Ron Sander voted against the motion, said the mayor deals with a lot of sensitive business in its early stages. As a result, he suggested that council should leave it up to the mayor to decide when it is appropriate to bring that business forward.
"At some point, inevitably council will become involved," he said.
Prior's motion, which was adopted by a 5-2 vote, simply seeks better ways of communicating, Coun. Patricia Heintzman said.
"I don't lay blame on anyone," she said. "I just think generally, as a group, we need to do this."
