City Manager Recommends COW Changes

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Schedule for 1:00 pm Thursday
Not Broadcast or Record Them

At first blush this recommendation would appear to take a giant step backwards in the area of openness, transparency and public scrutiny.

As part of the intention to change council meetings and committee of the whole meetings from Mondays to Thursdays there is a recommendation which would hinder public scrutiny of the business conducted by this council.

During the last city council's term Gord Fuller pressed long and hard to have the COW meetings videoed which has proven a very positive step in being able to review how things get done by your city council.

If this city council adopts the city manager's recommendation it will greatly limit public scrutiny and input into the process. By holding the meetings at 1:00 pm it would limit the number of people able to attend during normal working hours. By not televising or recording the meetings it further restricts the public's ability to see what this council is up to.

It will be interesting to see just how this new council handles this recommendation going forward. If they adopt the city manager's recommendation they will be telling the public loud and clear, they really don't want to encourage their input or scrutiny.

Another test for this new council, which according to the rumbles in the coffee shop is quickly looking more like the old one all the time. The first tip off was the ratifying the 6% union contract, then accepting a 1% tax increase without even looking at the budget. If they adopt this COW change, so much for transparency.