Council holding town hall meeting Monday

There will be a drop-in meeting Monday night at City Hall for citizens who’d like to speak with their councillors about anything on their minds.

Coun. Dean Pappas said the meeting will take place at council chambers at 5:30 p.m., and likely wrap up around 6:30 p.m.

“There’s no agenda – it’s just whatever people want to talk about,” Pappas said.

Pappas said he’ll be there, as well as Coun. Don Vassiliadis, Coun. Keith Riel, Coun. Gary Baldwin and possibly also Coun. Diane Therrien.

Under a new schedule for 2018, councillors won’t meet every Monday evening: Instead they will be bulking up the agenda some Mondays, to leave one or two Mondays free every month.

The idea is to give citizens more time to learn about issues, between meetings - and prepare themselves to speak to council, if they deem it necessary.

But instead of taking a break on those free Mondays, Pappas said some councillors are choosing to come to City Hall and invite citizens to come speak to them about any issue.

“We’re trying to do it as a casual thing – your councillors are there, just come and talk to them,” Pappas said.

He said council meetings are formal and not conducive to “two-way conversation” between citizens and their councillors.

Pappas said there have also been concerns from citizens that council isn’t offering enough opportunity for community engagement; in other words, they don’t necessarily feel heard by their city council.

“Some of us (councillors) want to take advantage of that extra week to improve that,” he said.

Residents of all wards are welcome. The gathering begins at 5:30 p.m. on Monday in council chambers (the second floor of City Hall).