At its first official committee meeting yesterday, Newmarket council decided to start their meetings one hour earlier beginning in March 2019.
At committee of the whole meetings, typically held every other Monday of the month, citizens and groups can apply to speak to council about issues of concern or make a pitch for support. It's also when substantive discussions unfold about issues before council, including development proposals and budget priorities.
The new start time will be 12:30 p.m., instead of 1:30 p.m. and will take effect at the regularly scheduled March 18, 2019 committee of the whole meeting at the municipal offices. The average length of these meetings is four hours.
This isn't the first time there have been discussions about changing times or even the day of the week for council and committee of the whole meetings, Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor Tom Vegh said.
Town staff prepared a six-page report on the matter that concluded a start time of 10 a.m. is optimal as it “provides additional time to consider agenda items, which means there is the opportunity for more fulsome discussion".
“The reality is some council members do have jobs and commitments at other times of the day,” Vegh said. “And if you start committee of the whole at 10 a.m., it makes it difficult to schedule your day.”
Councillor Jane Twinney originally raised the start-time issue.
“I think we’re going to have longer meetings this term with more discussion, we have new members and I think we’re going to run longer,” Twinney said. “That was the reasoning behind the suggested 10 a.m. start time, to give us more time to have fulsome meetings.”
Councillor Christina Bisanz, who is also CEO of Community & Home Assistance to Seniors (CHATS), said she prefers an afternoon meeting, which allows her time to connect with town staff and attend to her other job in the morning.
After all members weighed in, it was decided they would meet somewhere in the middle. Council rejected the staff recommendation for a morning start in favour of doing a test run of sorts with a 12:30 p.m. start time for about half of 2019.
Mayor John Taylor agreed with his council colleagues that a 10 a.m. start time is “virtually impossible”.
“There’s no time to consult with the staff or a resident. It would be very hard to mobilize for that,” Taylor said, adding that a 1:30 p.m. start time often makes for a long day. “When you’re making tough decisions at an (evening) council meeting and in (daytime) meetings non-stop for six hours, it’s a challenge.”
Town staff will review the new start time over 2019 and report back to council.
Editor's note: This story was corrected to reflect Councillor Jane Twinney's comments, erroneously attributed to Councillor Kelly Broome.
