By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle

Oliver is aiming to give residents more opportunities to meet and talk with town council at special informal events. 

At their July 15 meeting, town council committed to hosting more events like Coffee with Council in order to be more accessible to the public on a quarterly basis. 

Coffee with Council, a Walk with Council, and various youth engagement events are all on the table for Olivarians to meet and talk with their town councillors. 

The Town of Oliver recently held a Coffee with Council event at Venables Theatre on July 2, where five members of the public attended the event. 

This was the first Coffee with Council event since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In agreeing to commit to more of these events, council agreed to hold the events at different times of the day in order to accommodate all residents of Oliver who wish to attend. 

In addition to the Coffee with Council events, the town is thinking of expanding the Walk and Talk sessions to all of council. 

Mayor Martin Johansen hosted two Walk and Talk sessions during Seniors Week 2024 (June 2 – June 8). While these sessions were limited to the Johansen, this type of event can give the public a chance to walk around town and discuss their thoughts with members of council. 

Council also expressed interest in hosting more events for the community’s youth to meet the council members. While no ideas were agreed to, council discussed their interest in pursuing these types of events, particularly when the town’s youth return to school from summer break. 

While all councillors were in favour of hosting more of these events, Councillor Petra Veintimilla expressed some hesitancy around committing to too many of them as she said all of the councillors should be in attendance. 

“I do think if we advertise a meeting or a coffee with council, if you are a citizen that is attending one meeting out of the four, and two councillors happen not to be there, it does make it look like your council is not engaged, and maybe they don’t have a clue that you attended the last 12 and couldn’t make that one.” 

Councillor David Mates noted that they were committing to not forgetting about these types of events and the details and schedule will be worked out later.