In refining how Sarnia city council conducts its meetings, part of the focus was trying to make them as productive as possible, the chairperson of a procedure bylaw review committee says.
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“Because those meetings are expensive,” said Mike Kelch, also a former city councillor.
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“When you think about all the people sitting around the table and the staff, it’s a very expensive proposition.”
Effectiveness also falls off if meetings take too long, he said.
“So, trying to get the best bang for the buck per minute of the meeting, and give our advisors … the tools to be as productive as they can be,” he said was the committee’s philosophy, as it met six times in six months to hammer out an update to the bylaw.
Council recently approved the draft which goes out for public comment, and will consider the proposals March 11.
Among them is changing meeting start times at 10 am
Council did that while meeting electronically during the COVID-19 pandemic, then switched in 2022 to the current 1 pm start time, on a trial basis. The current bylaw says meetings start at 4 pm
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Meeting earlier works better for staff and “it seemed to work OK,” during COVID, Kelch said, noting other groups such as Lambton County Council also hold morning meetings.
The draft also proposes changes to how the acting mayor position works, where the top vote-getting councillor chairs meetings in the mayor’s absence for the first year, then the second-place councilor in year two, and so on.
Under the new system, councilors would still rotate to cover meeting-chairing responsibilities based on election results, but it would pass to the next in line meeting by meeting.
“I and the committee thought that rotating members of council through that role would give everyone a fair shot at the experience, and understanding what’s involved,” Kelch said, noting councilors can also decline the job when their turn comes up.
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“The committee felt it helps to create a better-rounded city council,” he said.
Councilors who introduce notices of motion under the new rules would, similar to delegations, have to keep them focused on matters in council’s jurisdiction.
“I think that’s a positive step, to try to get some focus,” said Mayor Mike Bradley, noting some recent motions have focused on writing letters to other levels of government on matters beyond council’s control.
Those letters can be written without council debate, he said, noting figuring out where to draw the line and what is in council’s jurisdiction could be tough for the city clerk.
The committee also is recommending more grounds for the clerk to exclude delegation requests, like if the request to speak is on something council already has decided that term, or if the matter doesn’t require a council decision.
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The draft also updates language dating back to the 1990s, relaxed the rules around using electronic devices, and the committee worked with the city clerk on putting it together, Kelch said.
It considered limiting delegations to five minutes instead of 10, and no longer having the national anthem at the start of council meetings, but opted to leave those provisions as they are, he said.
“I’m not going to be the one to suggest that we don’t do that, and I think the committee felt pretty comfortable leaving it in,” he said about O Canada.
Updating the rules is something that happens after every election, Bradley said, adding the committee council approved for the task in late 2022 “did a really good job.”
The bylaw is an important document, Kelch said.
“It really is the rules for council.”
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