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Open mic discussed for budget talks

Increased transparency and public input made the Lac La Biche County Council agenda last week, as the mostly new council prepare to tackle their first budget meetings. At issue is deciding if there can be too much public access.

Increased transparency and public input made the Lac La Biche County Council agenda last week, as the mostly new council prepare to tackle their first budget meetings. At issue is deciding if there can be too much public access. Council has taken strides to make their decision-making process more available to the public than the previous council, which denied access to budget deliberations.

But whether open access to that level is warranted for all meetings is now being discussed.

A few weeks ago, the Lac La Biche County Council allowed members of the public to voice concerns or issues before a regular meeting in Plamondon. Council reported that residents were happy for the opportunity and that one person requested the local government allow input during their budget meetings.

But allowing people observing the upcoming budget meetings from March 16-19 to bring issues forward has created concerns over setting a precedent for all of the county’s deliberations.

“Public consultations are a great idea,” said county CAO Duane Coleman. “[But] if you do it at one set of meetings, you should be prepared to do it at others.”

But Alvin Kumpula was hesitant to agree, saying that giving people the chance to talk to council during the four-day string of budget meetings would extend an already long process.

“We already do it during specific meetings, but I’m a little concerned about the time that it would take,” he said.

Councillor Eugene Uganecz offered further criticism of the notion by saying that politicians are already accountable to the public that elected them regardless of whether they are allowed to speak up at meetings or not.

“Councillors always have a responsibility to represent the public,” he said. “We have that commitment with our constituents.”

While the idea of taking concerns from the public received traction during the meeting, Coleman suggested preparing ‘open mic’-related policy for next year’s budget deliberations, as the public hasn’t been prepared enough to fairly comment.

“Pre-work should be done to properly prepare the public on the issue and topics the council plans to discuss,” said Coleman. “We’ll do some research on what other municipalities are doing in this regard.”




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