It was one of the first things the current Gibsons council started working on after the 2014 election, and now they’re finally getting close to amending their procedure bylaw.
The bylaw sets out rules for meetings and how the council conducts business. It’s typical for municipal councils to revisit bylaws from time to time to ensure they’re up to date with the Community Charter and to clear up inconsistencies.
Gibsons council has been debating changes, on and off, since January 2015.
There was one main sticking point when the most recent amendments came up for second and third readings on April 5: how to handle delegations.
Mayor Wayne Rowe said the need to rethink the rules around delegations came out of the debate over the George Hotel proposal.
“It was out of the George process, where there was clearly going to have to be a public hearing, but we were basically having an ongoing public hearing every week,” Rowe explained. “One delegation would come forward with its view, and then next week another delegation with a contravening view and so on, and you ended up with literally a running public hearing.”
That led to the addition of a clause reading, “Delegations are not to appear regarding matters that are currently under consideration and for which a public input opportunity will be held.”
Coun. Jeremy Valeriote felt that wording was too vague and could lead to delegations being unfairly denied. “I am concerned that ‘currently under consideration’ is so broad that it could be used to limit delegations,” he told fellow councillors. “It’s open to abuse, certainly not by this council, but potentially in the future.”
Councillors decided to compromise by changing the clause to, “Delegations are not to appear regarding development applications that are currently under consideration and for which a public input opportunity will be held.”
Coun. Silas White has been a strong supporter of reviewing the bylaw. “I think this procedure bylaw was really problematic before, it was really kind of alienating and it was difficult to follow where it went,” said White, who added that he’s pleased with the amendments as they now stand.
The amended bylaw passed second and third readings unanimously.
Changing a procedure bylaw requires the Town to give public notice before the amendments are adopted. That final vote is expected at the April 19 council meeting.
