Council moves committee meetings to smaller, cheaper venue
NANAIMO — Seats are going to be at a premium at future city of Nanaimo Committee of the Whole (COTW) meetings.
Council has approved a staff recommendation to move the bi-weekly meetings from the Shaw Auditorium in the Vancouver Island Conference Centre into the board room at the Service and Resource Centre (SARC). The move could potentially lead to annual savings of $21,000, according to a staff report.
The report says the SARC building has a seating capacity of 25, compared to 200 at the conference centre.
Much of the discussion Monday night focused on the purpose of COTW meetings and the way Nanaimo council uses them. According to the report from City Clerk Jane Armstrong, COTWs are used differently throughout the province and are an “opportunity for in-depth discussion of specific topics in a less formal meeting environment.”