Staff
Town council approved a report Monday night to waive fees for the provision of council agenda materials for the three local media outlets, namely the Fort Frances Times, B93•FM, and Westend Weekly.
Up until now, the media has paid $.55 per page for agenda materials.
The issue was brought up at the Jan. 4 meeting of the Administration and Finance executive committee meeting, which was attended by Randy Thoms and Leo Melanson of B93•FM.
They noted other municipalities provide this service for free and that the town should, as well, in the interests of transparency and open government.
The media receive all materials with the exception of in-camera matters, while committee of the whole materials are presented to the media just prior to the beginning of the meeting.
This is to ensure council has had the first opportunity to review the materials.
Council will continue to receive materials before the media does.
Council also agreed Monday that the town’s media relations policy should be reviewed, with input from the local media.
This review will be facilitated by the town’s human resources department with input from local media, and all revisions will be brought forward to council at a later date.
According to the report, which was written by Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig, Thoms felt at the Jan. 4 meeting that advertising opportunities automatically went to newspapers as a first preference.
But administration advised him that in many instances, the town is regulated to give notice in a specified format.
For example, the Municipal Act requires the municipality give “reasonable notice,” while the Planning Act goes one step further and stipulates that notice be in a specific format (i.e., a local newspaper of the widest circulation).
Furthermore, each divisional budget has an allocation for advertising and the respective manager makes prudent fiscal decisions regarding the most effective use of the funds.
While there is no advertising policy in place, McCaig noted that after consultation with town managers, it is clear their decisions regarding advertising is “a process that involves careful consideration of the cost and effectiveness of each media service as it applies to the matter at hand.”
As such, the town will not adopt a new advertising policy, but administration is expected to consider all media forms when evaluating publicity value for advertising initiatives.
As well, Notice Bylaw 64/2 will be reviewed by the town clerk for potential amendments.
