
If you’re hoping to attend Kamloops council meetings, you’ll be able to sleep in a little longer as the meetings will go back to 1:30 p.m. start times.
Councillor Stephen Karpuk says the three month trial – that saw the public portion of the meeting begin at 9:30 in the morning – didn’t give staff as much time to answer any last minute questions that councillors had on the day of the meeting.
“I understand the value of why we did this,” Karpuk said. “I understand the intent, but I personally think the way we used to do it would have more value.”
Councillor Bill Sarai also said he felt the later start had more of a negative impact on members of the public.
“Not knowing when to appear, when not to appear, what times, how long is the morning going on? So I think just going back to the way it used to be,” Sarai added. “No matter what we choose, its going to have pros and cons.”
Councillor Kelly Hall though spoke in favour of keeping the early start times.
“The morning start, with regards to our general public, its posted on our website. We make it easy for everybody,” Hall said. “I quite frankly like the time, but it takes everybody to support it.”
He also said if a councillor was prepared “well in advance” of the meeting day, they can ask questions of staff ahead of time so staff have the time needed to get a response.
“Rather than asking the question in the morning of the day,” Hall said. “And we can actually keep some of the frivolous questions away from the table.”
Councillor Katie Neustaeter – who proposed the earlier 9:30 a.m. start time in April – says it has a lot of benefits to not just members of the public and the media, but City staff who have had to work longer days as those afternoon meetings have dragged on well past 5 p.m. under this council.
“We reduce costs to the taxpayer by moving to this system,” she said. “We’re here for 14 hours no matter what it seems every single time, so it was more about how it impacts the public, how it impacts staff.”
While acting CAO Byron McCorkell said it has been an “interesting transition,” he said staff in Kamloops had no preference, noting there were pros and cons to both start times.
“Quite frankly, its council’s call. We’ll do whichever you wish,” McCorkell said. “Frankly from a staff perspective, if you wanted to continue the way we are, we’ve managed to figure out a way to make it work.”
McCorkell also said the afternoon start time is “easier” for staff, as they can work on last minute additions to the agenda, should it arise.
Neustaeter, Hall, and Councillor Nancy Bepple voted against moving back to the 1:30 p.m. start time. It is unclear how Councillor Mike O’Reilly voted as he was only present virtually for a portion of the meeting.
The new change will take effect at the next meeting of Kamloops council which is set for July 30.
As has been the case, closed council meetings will take place following the open meeting, with public hearings still scheduled to begin at 7 p.m..