STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.

Council moves committee meetings to smaller, cheaper venue

Dec 13, 2016 | 7:08 PM

NANAIMO — Seats are going to be at a premium at future city of Nanaimo Committee of the Whole (COTW) meetings.

Council has approved a staff recommendation to move the bi-weekly meetings from the Shaw Auditorium in the Vancouver Island Conference Centre into the board room at the Service and Resource Centre (SARC). The move could potentially lead to annual savings of $21,000, according to a staff report.

The report says the SARC building has a seating capacity of 25, compared to 200 at the conference centre.

Much of the discussion Monday night focused on the purpose of COTW meetings and the way Nanaimo council uses them. According to the report from City Clerk Jane Armstrong, COTWs are used differently throughout the province and are an “opportunity for in-depth discussion of specific topics in a less formal meeting environment.”

However, a bylaw specific to Nanaimo effectively means COTW meetings may function largely as council meetings, with the exception of some specific powers noted in the Community Charter, according to the report.

“If Committee of the Whole was to meet simply as a committee for more informal discussion on topics, then I think the SARC building would be a much more appropriate venue,” said Coun. Ian Thorpe. “It seems to me that council has delegated virtually all authority of a council meeting to the COTW…we deal with a lot of issues here which seem to be council issues. If that’s the case, I think we should be dealing with them in this larger venue that can more easily accommodate an audience.”

Thorpe, who ended up voting in favour of the move, said for him it came down to how the COTW is going to be used.

Sheila Gurrie, the city’s legislative services supervisor, told the meeting staff were in the process of working on a report to rewrite procedure to make COTW meetings operate more like how they are intended to.

“I have been advocating for many years that the COTW meetings be held in a tighter venue whereby our ability to communicate with one another is a little bit more convenient,” said Coun. Bill Bestwick. “I also think it has many benefits of efficiency for staff to have the meeting held in the venue where all of their resource information is.”

Some concerns were raised about the audio and video quality of recordings in the SARC board room. COTW meetings are not shown live on television like council meetings, but they are live streamed on the city’s website and posted as archives.

“I don’t think the way it’s setup with just one camera, basically pointed at the backs of most of the council members is appropriate,” said Coun. Gord Fuller. “Until I know that those cameras are going to be setup for sure, I don’t want to support this.”

Fuller ultimately did vote in favour of the recommendation.

“When my emotions get the best of me I’m not always certain I want to be recorded,” said Coun. Jim Kipp. “The record of the city council is the written record and the rest of it really has nothing to do with the actual record.”

Chief Financial Officer Victor Mema said the audio and video quality in the SARC room is much improved. He said there is one camera that can be rotated. Additional cameras would cost about $7,000, he said. Mema says the room has also been outfitted with a microphone for presenters, microphones in the ceiling and a large display screen.

“The SARC board room, I hate that room,” said Mayor Bill McKay. “It’s very cold, it’s not conducive to good conversation.”

McKay, who joined Coun. Diane Brennan and Coun. Wendy Pratt in voting against the move, says the ventilation system in the room makes it hard to hear when you’re in the audience.

“When we look at the level of public participation that is being demanded by all governments…we’re going to see more participation, not less. I can’t support this at this time.”

The city’s Philip Cooper says it’s unclear exactly when meetings will be moved, but says everything is ready and there’s no reason for delay.