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City laying groundwork for informal community meetings with Nanaimo council

May 4, 2017 | 1:37 PM

NANAIMO — After being sidelined, the City of Nanaimo is once more working on hosting informal, open dialogues with residents.

Deputy chief administrative officer Victor Mema told NanaimoNewsNOW they want to engage with people in a way which gives everyone a chance to share their opinion on any topic, outside the official Question Period at council meetings.

“There’s never a time when it’s bad to engage with your citizens,” Mema said. “What we’re hoping to do is re-engage in a more informal way where people can begin to talk about more local things. If we end up with somewhat of a rotation from one side of town to the next, then you can focus on more local issues that people are dealing with.”

It’s hoped a staff report will be in front of council in June and the first community meeting will happen in the fall.

Mema said they’re aiming for the meetings to have a respectful atmosphere where residents and councillors can discuss various issues without tempers flaring or emotions boiling over.

When the idea was first proposed by coun. Jim Kipp in a Sept. 12, 2016 council meeting, he wanted the meetings to be a dialogue “distinct from council’s formal business meetings.”

“Creating opportunities for John and Jane Doe, the public’s voice, early and often before decision making will help move towards better governance and more dialogue,” he said.

At the time, Kipp proposed there would be four meetings a year with a minimum of three councillors attending and they would happen at various locations across Nanaimo.

“A lot of people are afraid to get up in front of us and talk and if they can come in a group to a place close to their home, I think it makes it just another ability for us to add input,” he said.

It’s been nine months since the motion was passed by council to draft a staff report about the community meetings.

Deputy CAO Mema said the event centre referendum caused the delay.

“We had to make a choice as to what we were going to prioritize,” he said. “At a certain point people get tired of attending meetings so you want to create a time and space where people are actually paying attention to the subject matter.”

According to Mema, he, mayor Bill McKay and Kipp met this week to discuss the future of the community fourms.

-with files from Dominic Abassi

 

spencer.sterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit