Okotoks councillors are going on the hot seat to discuss important topics and field questions from residents.
In the first of its Council Community Connector events, council will present information on the Calgary Metropolitan Growth Board and its proposed regional growth plan, and other topics such as affordable housing, before moving into at least one hour of Q & A with the public.
The Community Connector will be held via Zoom’s webinar platform on April 19 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and livestreamed on the Town’s website.
Pre-registration for the webinar is required for those who wish to be included in the Zoom session rather than viewing via livestream, and submitting questions ahead of the event is encouraged.
“The Zoom webinar function is equivalent to more of a virtual auditorium setting where a larger audience is facilitated,” said Cathy Duplessis, legislative and policy services manager for the Town.
Its purpose is to form a connection between Okotoks councillors, residents, which the Community Connector policy refers to as “owners,” and policy.
Coun. Ed Sands said it’s about learning what the community has to say about certain items, policies and projects.
“Basically, what do our owners, the taxpaying citizens and businesses in Okotoks, what do they have to say about our regional waterline project, for example,” said Sands.
He said the presentation at the outset of the session could help inform residents and answer some questions from the get-go, leaving more time for other discussion.
“The presentation isn’t giving our idea or giving a grand plan, it’s preemptively answering the questions,” said Sands. “We know what the questions, largely, are going to be.”
He said it will be important to keep the conversation focused on council-to-owner engagement and try not to get bogged down in the arena of customer-type questions, such as queries around garbage collection or particular snow-clearing routes.
Coun. Tanya Thorn said she hopes to see fluid discussion of topics between council and webinar attendees, regardless of which questions are sent in advance. If something comes up during the course of the two-hour engagement, participants should be able to voice their thoughts, she said.
“Anybody that’s registered for the webinar and is on the webinar should have the opportunity,” said Thorn. “It doesn’t mean they will get it, because there could be a large volume, but have the opportunity to either post their questions in a Q&A or to be acknowledged by whoever is moderating and be able to verbally ask their question.”
To have more time for general questions, or questions relating to the presentation topics, Thorn recommended limiting the number of presentations to no more than three.
“Of the intent is to actually encourage some dialogue, the more we present the less time there is for actual dialogue,” she said. “It’s our first one. I don’t think we should try to pack in everything, I think we should really let it be more fluid.”
Mayor Bill Robertson said he believes setting aside 40 minutes to deliver four five-minute presentations with five minutes for open questions after each one would be beneficial for the public, to provide information on topics like the CMRB and potentially answer questions before they’re posed.
It would leave more than an hour to take other questions, and he said that would probably be plenty. He said putting the owner-directed information first could lead the conversation in that direction, but some consumer-based questions are to be expected.
“We could end up with a number of things, but that’s part of the Community Connector,” said Robertson. “If somebody has a serious concern, what is their most serious concern, that’s what it is for them and we need to address that or do our best to address that concern.”
The topics for discussion are not set in stone and will be finalized at council’s April 12 meeting, he said.
Coun. Florence Christophers said she is looking forward to the opportunity to engage with the public. She said it doesn’t matter what kind of questions come forward during the first event as people get to learn what the council-to-owner connection is about.
“We may have to do a couple of these before people really get it, and that’s okay to take some time to do that education,” said Christophers. “I think it will be valuable.”
She said it’s important for council to connect with the community and learn more about what is top of mind for residents, and how they feel about issues that arise in between Community Connector sessions.
“Relationships are key and this is our gesture of building strong ones with our community and I’m so excited to do this, I can hardly wait,” said Christophers.
