As part of recommendations made by the George Cuff Governance Audit, the procedure bylaw has been amended in an effort to be more open and transparent. City Council passed the updated bylaw in the most recent council meeting.
After the first reading on June 12, Administration was directed to make changes to the bylaw. Councillor Ken Baker had raised some issues with the wording specifically regarding the consent agenda being accepted as information before discussion is had.
“I just didn’t like to see things buried in the consent agenda. I don’t think the extra 10 minutes it takes to deal with those issues, they should be dealt with one at a time in an open council,” says Councillor Baker.
He adds, “I know in the past things did slip through the consent agenda and I don’t want to see that happen but I’m very pleased with what they did with that Section 15 of the Procedure Bylaw.”
The full Procedure Bylaw can be found in the June 26 City Council Agenda starting on page 19.