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More transparency needed for correspondence, some Gibsons councillors say

Currently correspondence listed on council agendas, letters kept out
Lumley
Stafford Lumley

Some Gibsons councillors want to make council correspondence more transparent to the public and easier to manage internally.

The issue was raised by Coun. Stafford Lumley on Feb. 16 and at a March 2 committee-of-the-whole meeting staff reported back with an overview of how council correspondence is typically managed by the town, eliciting some confusion and acknowledgment from council that the process needs work.

Corporate officer Rebecca Anderson said the Town of Gibsons Procedure Bylaw “is largely silent” on how correspondence is managed, though the town does have a correspondence management policy, which outlines some conventions. For example, the corporate officer is in charge of managing correspondence, “at his/her best discretion,” while also adhering to standards including acknowledging receipt of letters addressed to mayor and council within five days.

A letters of support policy also outlines how council is to respond to requests for endorsement, which indicates that in most cases such letters be included in committee agendas.

Currently, correspondence is listed on council agendas, but the letters themselves are kept off the public document, which Lumley said at the March 2 meeting remained his primary concern. “My problem is that we stop and we talk about correspondence and the public has no idea what we’re talking about because they don’t see the letters,” he said, adding, “It’s almost like a mystery.”

Anderson said at one time letters were posted to the town’s website, but she acknowledged, “nothing had been posted there for quite some time” – at least two years.

A note has been added to the letters webpage, indicating the process is under consideration by council. She said a publicly available binder used to be kept at municipal hall containing letters but with COVID-19, “that hasn’t been the practice any longer.”

At least two other councillors agreed with Lumley’s comments that public access to letters needed improvements.

Both Mayor Bill Beamish and Coun. David Croal raised questions about how to manage privacy, since some letters might be considered confidential.

Coun. Annemarie De Andrade also flagged privacy as a concern, but her main priority was to see letters dealt with by council in a more timely fashion, and that councillors be given access to all letters sent to mayor and council.

Some confusion was raised around how emails are received.

CAO Emanuel Machado said one improvement might be to simply have fewer generic email addresses.

Anderson noted staff do not pre-screen emails addressed to mayor and council.

Further clarity is expected in April, following a unanimous motion by council for staff to report on best practices and potential options for new rules or processes.