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Province enacts regulation to allow for online council meetings

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Council meetings can now be held by online means, allowing municipal councils to abide by social distancing recommendations.

Municipalities across the province have been faced with unprecedented challenges over the last few weeks, including how they carry out regular council meetings. As of late last week, the Government of Alberta officially enacted legislation to allow councils to host meetings entirely by electronic means.

The Meeting Procedures (COVID-19 Suppression) Regulation was enacted late in the week. The regulation allows for meetings to be held in a way that supports social distancing recommendations from the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

"Municipalities now have flexibility when conducting meetings and public hearings by electronic means, navigating quorum challenges due to councillors in quarantine, as well as methods for providing information to the public," reads a document published on March 25 by the Government of Alberta.

Live streaming meetings or hosting by teleconference will allow councils to continue to hold meetings. Municipalities will still have to give notice of meetings and provide information necessary for the public to access the meeting. The public must be able to hear the meeting as it is occuring.

At the March 23 Town of St. Paul council meeting, a decision was made to cancel future meetings, as the municipality waited for the province to amend the regulation. At the Monday meeting, a few council members gathered at council chambers, while most were connected through video conference.

The door to the building was unlocked, as required during a public meeting. No public was in attendance. The media was also connected via video conference. According to the Municipal Government Act, a council meeting must be held in a facility where the public can attend.

Town of St. Paul council meetings have been cancelled until the state of emergency is lifted, and if urgent decisions need to be made, a special meeting will be held. Council was unanimous in approving the changes required, and carried all three readings of bylaw 2020-02, which is an amendment to the procedural bylaw.

Town of St. Paul Mayor Maureen Miller noted that in some areas of the province, where there are higher incidences of transmission of COVID-19, councils have been unwilling to meet.

"They were highly warned," said Miller, adding, the Minister of Municipal Affairs realized it was an issue.

While the County of St. Paul's next regular meeting isn't until April 14, the municipality is also making changes to how meetings will be held.

"We have also made the same change to our Procedural Bylaw to allow us to cancel meetings. We have not cancelled any meetings at this time," said CAO Sheila Kitz, via email. The County was also waiting for the regulation to change, allowing virtual meetings to take place.

St. Paul Education

According to St. Paul Education Regional Division board chair Heather Starosielski, the school board is still scheduled to meet for its next regular meeting on April 15 at 12:30 p.m.

"We are exploring the use of Zoom conference technology to allow all board members to attend remotely and for members of the public to observe. Most committee/representative meetings have been cancelled until further notice," said Starosielski, via email.

She further explained, "The current regulations (Education Act) authorize a trustee to attend remotely, but the regulations are unclear and do not address a full board meeting taking place remotely. Additionally, the regulation requires the communications facilities to allow both the trustees participating in the meeting and the members of the public attending to hear each other, which could accommodate a teleconference, but technically not live streaming unless the trustees can hear the members of the public."  

The Alberta School Boards Association has raised this issue with the Ministry of Education and has proposed amendments that will allow for electronic meetings, said Starosielski. ASBA is asking the Minister of Education to allow boards to hold remote access meetings that would allow the public to observe and listen to the meeting. 


Janice Huser

About the Author: Janice Huser

Janice Huser has been with the St. Paul Journal since 2006. She is a graduate of the SAIT print media journalism program, is originally from St. Paul and has a passion for photography.
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