How To Approach Your Town Council
- Take your concerns to the relevant committee of Council FIRST where possible. You will have more opportunity to speak and make input at the committee level.
- To appear before the General Committee (where the entire council meets informally, and not to be confused with an ordinary committee of council) or before Town Council itself advise the town clerk (Director of Corporate Services) in writing by 4:30 p.m. on the Thursday prior to publication of the agenda that you wish to be on the agenda and state in detail the nature of the matter to be presented by your spokesperson.
- Always provide town staff with a phone number where you can be reached during business hours so you can be contacted to confirm your attendance.
- Anyone who appears at a Council meeting wishing to speak about a matter not on the Council Agenda will be directed to appear at the Open Forum Session that precedes Council meetings. A delegate may be placed on a Committee Agenda to address an issue that is not on the agenda.
Rules for presenting before Council
- Only the designated spokesperson may speak on the matter and for not more than five minutes. However, a delegation consisting of 3 or more persons who are present at the meeting and wish to discuss the same issue may have more than 1 speaker provided that the speaking time collectively stays within 15 minutes.
- At least a two-thirds majority of the Council Members present must consent for a delegate not on the agenda to be heard.
- All delegations appearing before General Committee or Council may speak only once on an item. Once discussion of a motion or resolution has started, no further presentation may be made by a delegate or by any other person other than a Member of Council.
- A delegation appearing before General Committee or Council shall not be placed on an agenda to discuss the same matter within four weeks of the last appearance by the same delegate, unless the matter has been deferred by General Committee or Council to a future meeting date, or specific direction has been given by General Committee or Council to re-attend a future meeting in order to provide additional information or clarification on the subject. So, if your matter is urgent and you think you may want to speak again then it is wise to secure the instruction of Council to attend a future meeting on the topic to provide it additional information and clarification..
- Any person may speak on any matter at a Public Planning Meeting provided that the spokesperson is speaking on an item on the agenda. The delegate shall speak for not more than five minutes, but may speak more than once on the agenda item.
- Delegations shall speak in order of the item as it is listed on the agenda.
