In a development that could be seen as Council extending an olive branch to its constituents, Coun. Jeff Serran will quash his motion to run summer council meetings immediately following committee meetings.
According to the Council meeting agenda for Monday, July 25, Serran will table a Rescission of Summer Schedule Motion, meaning that discussion and a vote will likely take place.
For more BayToday coverage of the original motion click here.
While many will see this as an instance of municipal government and the community working together to find a solution, some like vocal community advocate Monique Peters, will wonder why this motion ever gained traction in the first place. She has long contended that the meeting time switch may alleviate demands on the time of the councillors, but would wreak more havoc for the public attempting to watch at home, or present at meetings.
In correspondence with Joey Roussy, Station Manager at Cogeco TV North Bay this week, there was some indication of the impasse being smoothed over. Various scenarios were examined, after CogecoTV announced last week that it would no longer be able to carry a live broadcast of council meetings if it interfered with their nightly news productions.
CogecoTV remained steadfast that any meeting starting before 6:30 pm would not be broadcast live. Said Roussy, "If they change it to 6:30, we'll be able to cover it."
This was a softening of the cable broadcaster's stance that live coverage was off the table for the remainder of the summer.
Peters, who labelled the summer schedule change as a "disservice" to the public, will be making a public presentation at Monday's Council meeting, in advance of the rescission motion.
While Monday's meeting will possibly see this issue put to rest, it remains to be seen whether the damage has been done, or whether the community will acknowledge the work that has been done behind the scenes to right this affair, that was once seen by councillors as a matter of procedure.
