Three Rivers CAO says town not trying to stop public from speaking at council

The Town of Three Rivers is considering amending its procedural bylaw so that members of the public who want to speak at a council meeting have to register in advance.

"Up until now, we've basically had an open mic at our meetings," said the municipality's chief administrative officer, John Jamieson.

Most meetings take place on a Monday, so Jamieson said people would need to give notice that they want to speak by 3 p.m. on the Friday before a planned meeting, by calling the municipal office.

"That way, we can help better manage our agenda," he said. "Under the current procedural bylaw, if 50 people showed up and wanted to speak, they all have the ability to have five minutes each."

Jamieson says the change would not involve any sort of vetting process to determine who can or can't speak at a meeting.

"There's no approval process. It's simply giving notice," he said. 

There's also no limit in the bylaw to how many times an individual can speak to council, but there is a time limit of 30 minutes for all speakers, which Jamieson said is needed to ensure meetings don't go overtime.

"You don't even have to fill a form out. All you have to do is call the office by 3 o'clock and say, 'I'd like to speak and I'd like to speak on this particular topic,'" he said.

One benefit to the change, Jamieson said, is that all members of the public will now get a response from council, in one of two ways.

"They can provide an immediate response at the meeting, or they can refer the matter to a committee or to the administration for review, and get back to the individual within 14 days with a written response."

Jamieson said there are already registration requirements in place for a group or organization that wants to present to council.

Crowded planning board meeting

The Town of Three Rivers is undergoing some changes to its development approval process too. In late October, dozens of members of the public showed up at a planning board meeting — so many that the doors to the room ended up being locked.

"People had been informed through social media, first that it was a council meeting — which it wasn't — and they were also informed that it was a meeting to discuss changes in our development bylaw," said Jamieson.

The planning board changes have to do with institutional zoning, something that allows business offices, community centres, daycares, libraries and museums within a municipality, Jamison said.  

"Many of the speakers that spoke at the planning board meeting were under the impression that we were creating some institutional zone for a specific group of people that would allow them to have their own police station, their own hospital — basically a community within a community," he said.

"That's not correct."

The CAO said it's only a coincidence that the procedural bylaw amendment is coming to a vote in the wake of what he called "that contentious meeting" in October.

"We had actually started working on this and discussing it for several months now. I think the timing is maybe not great on our end. It looks like it's a response, but you don't draft a new bylaw overnight," he said.

Jamieson said the next special meeting of the planning board will take place on Nov. 14, and the municipality is already looking for a larger meeting space. He also hopes that by then, the town will have the capacity to livestream meetings for those who can't make it in person.

The bylaw amendment will go before council during its next regular meeting on Nov. 12.