Pappas to continue meetings
Mayor warns that community engagement meetings must follow rules
Coun. Dean Pappas said the town hall gatherings he has called on recent Monday evenings at City Hall will continue – even after Mayor Daryl Bennett wrote a letter to all councillors reminding them there are rules to follow whenever they call any type of meeting.
Bennett wrote an email to councillors saying he thinks it’s “wonderful” to see councillors inviting the public to City Hall on Mondays when they have no scheduled meeting.
The idea is to allow citizens to speak casually with their councillors, and Bennett writes that he approves.
But he also points out in his letter that the clerk needs advance notice of any forthcoming meeting.
If all councillors are invited, Bennett writes, then there could be quorum – and in that case, a city clerk must be present.
That doesn’t apply when there’s a ward meeting, Bennett writes, because there’s no possibility of having quorum.
Meanwhile Pappas has called two co-called community engagement meetings at City Hall so far this year – on Jan. 22 and again this past Monday – and invited all city councillors.
Pappas said on Thursday he thinks the meetings have been good and he wants them to carry on.
“We plan to continue doing them,” he said. “There will always be adjustments and growing pains – nobody has done this before, right?”
Pappas said he’s been asked by at least one constituent to consider moving the meetings to the newly-renovated main branch of the library on Aylmer St., and that’s being considered.
Pappas thinks it’s a good idea, he said, because the library is open on Mondays at 5:30 p.m. (when the meetings have typically been held). City Hall is not necessarily open then; the building must be open especially for the meetings.
The next opportunity for a town hall meeting would be on March 5 at 5:30 p.m.