The Town of Fort Frances council is considering whether to continue offering the option of joining council and committee meetings virtually.
The discussion of an amended bylaw was sparked when the province lifted the emergency measures, which would no longer permit councillors from participating virtually.
Municipal clerk, Gabrielle Lecuyer, said while the council has the desire to look at making electronic participation more permanent, there are pros and cons to the decision.
“The way the Procedural Bylaw is written is that, should the health unit remove or lift the recommendations that they currently have in place, the council would still be in a position today to be required to return to in-person meetings,” Lecuyer said.
That being said, Lecuyer provided a report to the council, highlighting the positive benefits of electronic meetings, one of which is an uptick in public participation, cost savings even in terms of consultants and different presenters coming in.
Lecuyer also highlighted several challenges with electronic participation, the first being the impact on transparency. She mentioned an incident in another municipality where a council member ‘snowbird-ed’ for five months and continued participating electronically.
“It became a challenge,” Lecuyer said. “There was a lot of negative public feedback from it as well. They were quite upset that these individuals were able to participate electronically.”
All council members favoured providing members of the public the option of joining the meetings virtually from their homes. However, some had concerns about making this a permanent choice for members of the council and staff.
Coun. Mike Behan said he supports the virtual option for the public, delegations and deputations.
“I support making it as easy and convenient as possible for the public to watch and scrutinise the council’s proceedings,” Behan said. “I also recognise the convenience and significant cost savings by allowing deputation and delegation to be done virtually, as opposed to in-person only.”
However, Behan said while he supports the idea of council members being able to participate virtually, he supports the current procedural bylaw that council members participating virtually would not count for quorum and not attend in-camera sessions.
Coun. Wendy Brunetta said that while there was concern around the table about possible abuses of the virtual connection option for councillors who may not feel like going down to the council chambers, she wants to encourage those not feeling well to stay home.
“It would be a good avenue to use if someone can participate but not spread their germs,” Brunetta said. “If you’re going to participate electronically, there are certain criteria that you have to meet. And if it’s just because you’re out of town. Again, it should be maybe limited so you can only participate so many times electronically due to travel.”
Brunetta also suggested mandating the usage of headsets to ensure no one else is listening to the closed meeting sessions.
Mayor June Caul’s main concern was participation in closed meetings while on a virtual connection and said multiple headsets can be plugged into the same device if necessary.
“For any in-camera sessions, I strongly believe we should be in person for that,” Caul said. “ I would appreciate being able to see your body language better and to have you in person speaking to me or anyone else on the council in person.”
Though somewhat concerned with virtual connection, Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft said he is a social being and wants to get together and interact with his fellow councillors in the council chambers.
Coun. Douglas Judson suggested limiting the electronic participation of the council by amending the Municipal Act.
“Your seat [would be] declared vacant if you miss three months of meetings,” Judson said. “I would make that the max, and then it resets after you come back. Because I think we all need to be here somewhat regularly. I think it’s been a positive addition. I think we should look at outfitting our proper council chamber just to bring more dignity to it, though.”
Lecuyer said she would gather more information try to come up with a solution that she thinks will please everyone.
