The Mayor of Kamloops is hoping to create more public participation in civic affairs through the creation of town hall meetings.

Reid Hamer-Jackson put forward a resolution at the council session Tuesday, asking staff to find a date to make the first of his town halls a reality.

Arguing it’s a plan to give a broader voice to the electorate, Hamer-Jackson concedes he’s not sure on how many, or what format the sessions might take.

“I think it will be no different than any other council meeting, but the agenda would be kinda an open agenda,” suggests Hamer-Jackson. “I believe we’d have our staff there, just like any [other council session] and they can ask questions about this or that.”

Hamer-Jackson says he’s not sure how many town hall meetings he’s envisioning, suggesting it will depend on how the first one goes.

“If we end up going from 6 o’clock at night til 11 o’clock at night and we’ve got a whole bunch more citizens that want to talk — and again we’ll try to limit them to five minutes — and then maybe we might have to do it again the next day.”

Right now people in Kamloops are able to address Mayor and Council at regular council meetings.

However, their comments are limited to what’s on the agenda that day, with their time also meant to be limited to 5-minutes — though that is at the descression of the Mayor.

“I mean, let’s face it. They’re the people who pay our wages, right,” notes Hamer-Jackson.

It’s not clear what level of support the idea of town hall sessions may have amongst the rest of council, as the Mayor is the only full-time employee of the city around the council table.

The rest of council is paid a part-time wage for their role in municipal politics, with most around the table holding full-time jobs.

The Mayor’s resolution will be debated at the next council session on May 30th.