Beginning in the new year, RM of Corman Park council and committee of the whole meetings will be held on Tuesdays instead of Mondays to allow administration to deal with issues that arise over the weekend.
During their November 26 meeting (which had been moved one day later due to the weekend snowstorm), RM of Corman Park councillors unanimously passed a motion to begin holding council and committee of the whole meetings a day later starting in January.
As well, the motion directs administration to prepare a report at the end of 2025 reviewing the change of date.
The motion came as a result of a discussion around the board meeting schedule for the coming year, which council sets annually.
Chief administrative officer Kerry Hilts noted that Council Procedures Bylaw 02/18 states council meetings will be held on the first and third Mondays of each month, with the exception of June, July, August and September.
However, the 2023 and 2024 council meeting schedules did not follow this bylaw as council no longer has two regular meetings per month.
Administration presented two options for the 2025 schedule: continuing to hold council and committee of the whole meetings on Mondays, or to move regular council meetings to Tuesdays with committee of the whole meetings remaining on Mondays.
Hilts said administration preferred to hold council meetings a day later due to “the chaos that sometimes happens on Monday mornings.”
This change will give administration more time to deal with those issues that arise over weekends and to find out answers to last-minute council questions and ratepayer inquiries.
Hilts pointed out that when the Nov. 25 council meeting was moved a day later because of weather, “it made that Monday quite a bit easier in terms of everything that was happening.”
Division 5 Coun. Arthur Pruim requested that council and committee of the whole meetings all be held on the same day as it would make his life easier in terms of scheduling.
“That would be my one request: make it uniform across the board, if possible,” he said.
Other councillors agreed with Pruim’s position and the motion to move meetings to Tuesdays was ultimately put forward by Division 3 Coun. Lyndon Haduik.
It’s worth noting that administration also recommended introducing a five-week break for July and August, when the business of council is at a lull.
Division 8 Coun. Wendy Thrask expressed some concern with taking a long break, indicating that it could hold up developers needing to proceed with their projects.
She also pointed out that when council used to hold only one meeting per month, those meetings could run very long, sometimes not ending until 5 or 6 p.m.
Hilts said that administration was not in favour of holding one meeting per month, just taking off that five-week block in July and August.
He added that this would be a pilot, so “if something goes sideways, we can always say, ‘You know what? This isn’t working.’”