Public Participation at Council Meetings?

One of the items on the agenda for the April 16, 2025 council meeting included a recommendation to rescind a number of the Town policies on the basis that they were no longer relevant due to changes in legislation, adoption of bylaws, local government best practices and legal precedents. One of the policies slated to be rescinded was Policy No. 3004-1. In the accompanying staff report to Council, it was stated that the purpose of Policy 3004-1 was to encourage public participation at Council meetings. The report recommended rescinding the policy on the grounds that Council Procedure Bylaw No.739, 2019 deals with public input at Council meetings, that input opportunities are provided for at Committee of the Whole meetings and that the Town had implemented quarterly Town Hall meetings.

For the benefit of the readers, Policy 3004-1 states that it (the Town) recognizes the value and importance of the opinion of its residents and encourages public participation at Council meetings. The policy provides that, at the discretion of the Mayor, those citizens in attendance may be provided an opportunity to ask questions and/or provide comments to Council.

I could find nothing in Council Procedure Bylaw No. 739, 2019 that permitted public input at

Council meetings. In an email to Mayor and Council prior to the April 16 meeting, I advised them of this and asked if they could direct me to the appropriate section of the bylaw if I was incorrect. I did not receive a response to my query.

Council Procedure Bylaw No. 739 does provide for public input at Committee of the Whole meetings. It also states that Council may, by resolution, go from a Council meeting to a Committee of the Whole meeting, presumably, permitting public input at the meeting. This, however, requires an intention on the part of Council as well as passage of a resolution. Not necessarily a certainty.

Committee of the Whole meetings and the newly instituted quarterly Town Hall meetings may provide the public with a forum. However, such input can never be of the same timeliness or relevancy as comments made on an item of business at a specific council meeting.

When matter of rescinding Policy 3004-1 came up at the April 16 meeting, my concerns were raised by Councillor Vander Valk. There was some discussion by Council but in the end Policy 3004-1 was rescinded. The discussion by Council was interesting. I encourage readers to view the video of this particular item of Council business. The video clip can be seen here

As a relative newcomer to Qualicum Beach and a recent attendee of Council meetings, I am not completely familiar with past practices around public input at meetings and based the following on a review of Council meeting minutes over a number of years. I welcome any and all corrections if my understanding of past practices is incorrect. As I understand, prior to Covid 19, the public were permitted to speak at the conclusion of a Council meeting on business discussed at that meeting. Covid brought an end to in person meetings but the public were invited to provide written comments to Council following the meeting. I believe that the actual correspondence was then attached to the minutes of the meeting, thus, permitting other members of the public to view the comments when perusing the minutes of the meeting. Not quite the same as listening to your fellow resident provide his or her comments at the meeting, but satisfactory given the constraints imposed by Covid. Subsequently, the attachment of the actual comments was halted, with only a brief description of the subject matter being placed in the minutes of the meeting.

We returned to in person meetings some time ago. I was hoping that we could also return to permitting in person comments at Council meetings also. That ship seems to have sailed given the rescinding of Policy 3004-1.

Jim Noel

April 17th 2025

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