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‘It brings democracy closer’: Nanaimo council moves committee meetings back to old venue

Nov 21, 2017 | 12:44 PM

NANAIMO — After less than a year in a new venue, Nanaimo Council’s Committee of the Whole meetings are moving back to familiar, larger digs.

On Monday night, Council endorsed a motion from coun. Diane Brennan to move the COW meetings back to the Shaw Auditorium at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre. In December 2016, Council agreed with a staff recommendation to shift the venue to the boardroom at the City’s Service and Resource Centre to potentially save $21,000 per year.

“In my estimation it doesn’t work,” Brennan said of holding the meetings in the SARC boardroom. “It makes it very difficult for people to see us work, see how the money they give us is spent and to see how we deliberate and make our decisions.”

Brennan referenced issues with the size of the room, audio quality and sightlines. The SARC boardroom has a capacity of 25 people, while the VICC can accommodate 200. Meetings in the smaller boardroom also can not be live streamed through the City’s website.

When the original decision was made last year, several councillors said the smaller venue would allow COW meetings to take on a more informal atmosphere, something committee meetings are intended to achieve. However, a bylaw specific to Nanaimo effectively means COW meetings may function largely as council meetings and a promised rewrite of the procedure bylaw has yet to occur.

“Maybe we will get there in terms of it being a working committee that would be more suited to that venue in the future (but) I think for now it’s not,” coun. Ian Thorpe said.

City staff said $57,000 was spent this year on audio and video improvements in the SARC boardroom. “Should we discount spending $57,000 right now and come back (to the VICC)? I don’t think so, I’m not willing to waste $57,000 at this point,” coun. Jerry Hong said.

However, mayor Bill McKay said the improvements would not be wasted since the Finance and Audit Committee meetings held in the SARC building are recorded. “I’m not the least bit happy with the product that comes out of there…The audio is very poor, the camera angles are bad and there’s no live streaming,” McKay said, adding he would like to see all committee meetings recorded in the future.

A staff report showed the average meeting in the VICC costs a little more than $2,000, compared to $300 at the SARC. More than $5,000 was spent on food in both 2015 and 2016 at the VICC, according to the report. “I think people would be aghast at some of the food that gets brought in here,” coun. Gord Fuller said.

Councillors Jim Kipp, Bill Yoachim and Hong voted against Brennan’s motion, while councillors Bill Bestwick, Thorpe and Fuller changed their votes after originally supporting the move to the SARC boardroom in 2016.

The change of venue is not expected to take place until 2018.

 

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi