Councillors want to limit late motions

A Victoria city councillor says the public is being denied the chance to comment on important issues because so many items are getting added to meeting agendas at the last minute.

Charlayne Thornton-Joe said the practice, although within the rules, means that city staff have insufficient time to prepare a response, and councillors are sometimes forced to make decisions before they have had a chance to properly research a topic and get input from the community.

She contends that it’s one of the reasons that council and committee meetings run so long, further increasing the risk that “exhausted” councillors will make poor decisions.

“I’m not saying that I haven’t ever submitted a late item,” she said. “I have, as well. But it seems like late items are coming, maybe a little bit more regular than they used to.”

Thornton-Joe said she has been hearing from residents upset that they often don’t have time to respond to an issue prior to it being debated at the council table.

“And some of the motions really need feedback from some of the community groups that are most affected by them,” she said in an interview.

Thornton-Joe and Coun. Marianne Alto will ask their fellow councillors today to approve a process that limits the number of last-minute motions, while still leaving room for urgent matters to get attention.

Under the current rules, councillors are asked to submit motions by 11 a.m. on the Friday before a Thursday meeting, so they can be published in the agenda. They are, however, permitted to submit motions up to 24 hours before the start of a meeting.

Thornton-Joe is recommending that Friday at 11 a.m. become the new deadline and that any motions submitted after that point be placed in a “late items” section of the agenda.

At the start of Thursday’s committee of the whole meeting, councillors would then vote on whether to include a late item on that day’s agenda.

It would take a two-thirds majority to approve a late item for consideration.

Thornton-Joe said she recognizes that many of the recent late items were related to the COVID-19 outbreak. “So, of course, I expect that those ones would be supported as late items and move forward to our agenda because they’re in response to something more urgent.”

But many others would be put off for another week, allowing community members and groups to provide valuable input, she said.

The Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria applauded Thornton-Joe and Alto for tackling the issue. Stan Bartlett, who chairs the watchdog group, said the existing process is ripe for manipulation since councillors can reduce public input and minimize controversy by waiting to submit their motions.

“Good governance requires good discussion and good information,” he said. “And pulling it out of your hat at the last minute usually is a non-starter.”

Bartlett said he will sometimes study council’s agenda on the Friday or Saturday before a meeting only to be surprised by late addition.

“That’s a tactic that should not be tolerated,” he said.