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City council spends 36 minutes debating length of policy discussions

North Saanich councillors tinkered with how long they should debate an issue to limit meeting times
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North Saanich councillors. They usually get along, but now theysa国际传媒檙e debating how long they talk at meetings and who talks the most. (File)

Itsa国际传媒檚 an ongoing joke in many communities that council meetings can run a bit longer than expected - sometimes lasting hours into the evening.

Ironically, one B.C. municipality has taken the time to debate the matter.

North Saanich Coun. Celia Stock raised a motion recently, seeking to limit the amount of councilor discussion that takes place on any given issue sa国际传媒 in an attempt to speed up their meetings.

She said she wanted meetings run in a more effective and efficient manner and pointed to neighbouring councils in Central Saanich and Sidney that put time limits on how long a politician can debate a point.

sa国际传媒淎ll of us have had this sa国际传媒 on the radar since last fall,sa国际传媒 Stock said. sa国际传媒淲e do often tend to have meetings that last (up to) four-and-a-half hours.sa国际传媒

In Sidneysa国际传媒檚 example, she continued, theresa国际传媒檚 a procedural bylaw in place that keeps debate per councilor to five minutes on each subject.

sa国际传媒淎nd then they are not allowed to keep on speaking,sa国际传媒 she said.

Central Saanichsa国际传媒檚 limit, she continued, is 10 minutes and the limit among Capital Regional District directors is 15 minutes. Stock said having similar limits in North Saanich could prevent meetings from going beyond 10:30 p.m. and sa国际传媒渘ot subjecting staffsa国际传媒 to long sessions of council.

It was clear, however, that other councillors have been timing each other and, instead of imposing limits, a majority suggested other means of keeping the meetings more succinct.

Coun. Heather Gartshore said their meetings vary from two-and-a-half hours to those longer ones Stock mentioned. However, Gartshore said the longer ones are rare sa国际传媒 despite the three long ones council had in January.

sa国际传媒淚 feel this notice is born of frustration,sa国际传媒 she said. sa国际传媒淚 feel as if this is trying to kill a fly with a sledgehammer.sa国际传媒

Gartshore wondered how it would be enforced, such as having staff with stopwatches.

She added she feels meeting length is related to agenda size, saying if North Saanich council met more frequently and didnsa国际传媒檛 break in the summer, the meetings could be quicker.

Gartshore also said if councillors come prepared and ready to go, meetings may also pick up.

sa国际传媒淢y observation is that doesnsa国际传媒檛 always happen.sa国际传媒

Coun. Geoff Orr noted with humour that Gartshore herself spoke seven minutes on the issue, but basically agreed with her. Her said he doesnsa国际传媒檛 feel he has to apologize for asking questions to reach the decisions he needs to reach.

Coun. Jack Thornburgh added he saw Stocksa国际传媒檚 motion as sa国际传媒榓spirationalsa国际传媒, rather than prescriptive. If councillors exercise self-discipline, he continued, there wouldnsa国际传媒檛 be a need for time limits.

In the end, Stocksa国际传媒檚 motion was defeated in a 5-2 vote (Stock and Mayor Alice Finall voted for it).

The entire debate took approximately 36 minutes.



editor@peninsulanewsreview.com

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