After a split vote, County of St. Paul council decided against holding an annual general meeting (AGM) this spring for the second year in a row, at its meeting on April 10.
After a motion by Coun. Frank Sloan, councilors Glen Ockerman, Alphonse Corbiere and Cliff Martin voted in favor of not having an AGM on the basis of it costing too much and that there was very little, if any, request to hold one.
Coun. Maxine Fodness and Reeve Steve Upham were the only two who voted against Sloan’s motion. Coun. Dwight Dach was not present for the vote.
“When we usually do it we do it at an earlier time,” Sloan said after the meeting. “It’s better to look at in January so we can plan it out.”
Sloan said having an AGM was not a big issue at the public planning meetings in the fall and that none of his constituents have called him requesting one.
Those who voted for not having the AGM agreed council look at it again next year to plan out the costs involved.
Upham said he felt it’s an accountability piece to the ratepayers and is something council should be doing.
“When I ran for election, people that I spoke to were interested in us having annual meetings,” Upham said. “At the end of the day we probably should be having some kind of annual meeting to discuss the financial statement of the County.”
However, some of the feedback from past AGMs where there was a poor turnout and those present were only there to complain has deterred council from committing sooner to these kinds of meetings.
“Those meetings can be unproductive, but it doesn’t take away from our requirement to see the County as a corporation of which every ratepayer is a shareholder,” Upham said.
“Next spring there could be an annual meeting,” he continued. “We’re going to prepare for it a little sooner.”
