Black Diamond Town council approved a bylaw that will give the Town more flexibility in the way it informs residents of statutory hearings.
Although the Town didn’t have its own bylaw regarding advertising, it was mandated to follow the rules of the Municipal Government Act, which required municipalities to advertise statutory hearings in local newspapers for two consecutive weeks.
The advertising bylaw, approved by council at its Sept. 16 meeting in a unanimous vote, allows that the Town to advertise statutory hearings, bylaws, resolutions, meetings, public hearings and other events on its website, and then allows administration to select additional methods if it chooses. Council passed first reading on Aug. 19.
“It does permit some financial savings,” Verna Staples, the Town’s legislative services manager, told council last week. “It is not to cease communication outside of our website. It’s about finding a balance.”
In 2017, the MGA was amended so municipalities could, by bylaw, use alternate methods to advertise the hearings, which relate to land-use projects like development plans, area structure plans and land management plans.
“The bylaw makes it so municipalities have some flexibility in their advertising,” said Staples. “We could use pretty much every other tool in the tool kit that we have, including the Western Wheel, to make sure that the public is aware of our information.”
Staples told council that administration can advertise in the Town’s half page Council Connections advertisement that runs in the Western Wheel twice a month, rather than having to purchase a separate ad.
It was the Town that initiated the resolution that went to the Alberta Urban Municipality Association 10 years ago to increase advertising options.
At the time, the Gateway Gazette was going online and the Western Wheel wasn’t distributed free to households in Black Diamond, like it is now, Staples said.
Western Wheel publisher Shaun Jessome reiterated the importance of advertising in the newspaper during the Sept. 16 public hearing before the bylaw was passed.
“I believe that publishing the complete and comprehensive notification details in a newspaper, even once, is vital to public engagement and the democratic process,” he said. “The Western Wheel serves as a third-party verifier and offers a permanent, printed and archived record readily available to the public. Yet the proposed bylaw identifies the newspaper as fourth of the additional methods that may be chosen to communicate with your constituents.”
Jessome said advertisements help cover the cost of providing quality journalism to communities the Western Wheel serves while keeping readers informed.
He said the newspaper has published 288 articles about Black Diamond or referencing the community the past 12 months.
Coun. Ted Bain told council that he sees the value in the Town continuing to advertise in the Western Wheel.
“I still would like to be able to give the information to the people (through the newspaper) rather than make them seek it out,” he said. “Any advertising that’s put in the newspaper right now is available, all they have to do is look in the newspaper. The minor change is that people will now, on some occasions, have to actively seek out the information.”
Chief administrative officer Sharlene Brown said the new bylaw doesn’t mean the Town won’t advertise in the newspaper, it just gives the municipality the option to adjust its advertising budget.
“Public hearings for land use changes, elections, the franchise fees all need to be advertised under 606 (of the MGA),” she said. “Those kinds of pieces would go on the website primarily and then, if it’s deemed necessary by the municipality, we would still advertise in the Western Wheel. It’s just giving us the tools to maybe save on our advertising budget.”
Staples said a section will be added to the Town’s website to make it easy for the public to find required advertising notifications.
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