OSOYOOS TIMES-April 21, 2010

By Laurena Weninger

I’ll admit it – I’m a meeting junkie.
Most people look at me like there is something wrong with my head when I say that, but it’s true.
I enjoy attending town council meetings (I’ve attended both Osoyoos and Oliver’s meetings for about seven years now) as well as annual general meetings and I think there’s nothing more exciting than a well-attended public hearing.
But lately, Osoyoos’s regular open town council meetings have become nearly impossible to sit through, and here’s why:
These meetings have been stretching on longer and longer, and the content is coming across like food that has already been chewed.
At Osoyoos’s council meetings, the town councillors don’t address each other; they address the audience and the Channel 18 TV camera.
They sit facing the public gallery and when they speak they don’t face each other, make eye contact with each other, or address each other’s points.
It is as if each councillor is making a presentation to the audience rather than conducting Town business.
There’s often no debate, no in-depth discussion of the pros and cons of an issue.
They appear to have rehearsed their opinions and pre-assigned their “lines.”
The motions are pre-determined and each member of council knows his or her part.
On rare occasions, the TV camera has encountered a glitch, and the meeting has been brought to a halt to allow for the fix.
Near the end of the meetings are councillor reports.
Here is a sample of the content of those reports, from the April 6 meeting:
Look both ways when you cross the road, suggested Coun. Ted Cronmiller, explaining that just because a pedestrian has right-of-way doesn’t mean he should assume the big trucks are going to stop.
Coun. Michael Ryan suggested that with the warm spring weather, residents should get out and try a little hiking.
And Coun. CJ Rhodes said he is proud of the public for its willingness to come forward and express opinions at a recent public information meeting.
They are all very nice sentiments, but where is the wisdom of taking up time at a town council meeting to spout such pap?
A town council meeting is not the place to hear advice most of us learned in kindergarten.
Recently, council has budgeted $15,000 to have these meetings broadcast over the Internet.
They want the public to have better access to the meetings, and to tune into the Town business.
They are aiming for transparency and better communication.
But if council really wants the public to pay attention, here are some suggestions:
First, make it real.
It’s supposed to be a council meeting at which business is conducted, not a dog and pony show.
Second, move it along. If you agree with what the other councillors have said, don’t say it over again.
Third, keep to the schedule.
Delegations are supposed to be 10 minutes long.
When 10 minutes are up, the delegation’s time should be over.
Period.
(If more time is needed by a specific delegation, an exception could be arranged in advance and moved by council.)
And lastly, councillor reports:
After a two-hour meeting, no one wants to hear long-winded advice about how to safely cross the road.
We want to know what kind of business you have been up to.
What meetings did you attend?
What events did you speak at?
What projects are you working on?
If you have no council-related business to report, just say so and let the show move along.
A company named Granicus has been awarded the contract to begin webcasting Osoyoos’s meetings.
They already broadcast meetings from a whole bunch of other communities at www.granicus.com/Clients/Client-List.aspx.
And most of them are a whole lot easier to sit through than Osoyoos’s.