Kamloops City Council have approved a plan that will see City staff posting all statutory notices online following the closure of Kamloops This Week last month.
Corporate Officer Maria Mazzotta says statutory notices are the formal updates that include things like public hearings for developments, tax sales, meeting schedules and election-related notices.
“It is actually clearly defined in the legislation that governs the work of municipalities, so the Community Charter and the Local Government Act,” Mazzotta told Radio NL.
“We have an obligation according to the legislation so that people are aware of the opportunities.”
Speaking on NL Mornings, Mazzotta says the City will continue to post these notices on a public notice board at City Hall located at 7 Victoria Street West. She also says notices will be mailed to residents where legally required.
“The legislation dictates that where a community has a newspaper, the newspaper is the default mechanism to post your notices,” Mazzotta said.
“We don’t have that tool anymore so what we were looking to at council the other day is for council to authorize that the other mechanisms that we’ve been using all along be those alternate means that the legislation allows for.”
All City of Kamloops statutory notices will be still posted for two consecutive weeks as was the case in the newspaper. People will also be able to subscribe to these alerts so they can get it directly by email.
“There is something we’re no longer doing, which is publishing in Kamloops This Week, not by choice of course on the part of the City,” Mazzotta said.
“But we’re doing all the same things that we’ve always done, we’re just basically wanting council to put their stamp on this being our officially means to meet those legislative requirements.”
In a statement to Radio NL, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs confirmed that new tools that give municipalities “flexibility” in the ways the use to provide public notice came into effect last year.
“Local governments have the option to determine and specify, by bylaw, what methods they will use to provide public notice to people in their communities,” the statement said.
“The methods of public notice are up to the local governments to determine based on the needs of their communities and how they can reach the greatest number of people – for example, using on-line newspapers, posting on a local government website, by mail, or a combination of communication methods.”
In a report to council, Mazzotta said the City is working on a longer-term solution so people can access this information in a way that is both timely and easily accessible.
“The City considered other local media sources as options for statutory ads [but it] would not be appropriate mediums to advertise the level of detail included in statutory notices,” the report said.
“Given that all remaining ‘print’ options are digital, the City website provides residents with the same level of access in a consistent location, which provides staff with more flexibility and control over the platform.”
“Not being limited by press deadlines and publication dates also allows application processes requiring notice to move forward more quickly,” the report added.
