City Council approves motion for twice-a-year town hall meetings

Prince George City Council discussed the idea for hosting bi-annual town hall meetings at last night’s (Monday) meeting.

This followed a motion passed at the July 22nd meeting, which had City Council direct administration to develop a plan for bi-annual town hall events to take place.

One public engagement event would be held in the fall in line with the budget process, while another “flexible” event would be held in spring.

The topic and format of the spring event would be determined by city staff, depending on the issue or project of significance at the time.

“These town hall type of public engagement sessions aim to foster transparency, inclusivity, and stronger connections with our residents,” said Senior Communications Advisor Claire Thwaites.

Staff set a budget of $25,500 for the two events:

Thwaites said this cost was based on the Public Safety Town Hall meeting held earlier this year, but it is flexible, particularly with facilitators.

“I think what we’re looking for moving forward is flexibility,” she explained.

“That wouldn’t necessarily mean that we would always need a facilitator, it just gives us the wiggle room if we chose to, but that’s certainly an option, and if we were looking at cost-cutting measures, that would be one we could consider.”

“I think at some point too we need to look at having our own audio and visual equipment to save some costs,” said Councillor Brian Skakun, who was serving as Acting Mayor in the absence of Mayor Simon Yu.

“But I think any time we can go to the community in different formats, I think this is going to be great.”

Councillor Trudy Klassen was the lone Councillor opposed.

“I feel well enough engaged, I’m feeling like it’s not the best use of money for us,” Klassen said.