One less night spent in Turner Valley’s council chambers is expected to save money and offer convenience for Town staff.
Turner Valley town council is making a second attempt to hold its first meeting each month during the day, while continuing to run its second monthly meeting in the evening.
The decision was made during council’s organizational meeting on Oct. 22.
“We are trying to stay away from having staff come to meetings at night time,” said Turner Valley Mayor Kelly Tuck. “There are times council requires those departments to be at council meetings. It’s trying to stay cost effective.”
Starting next month, council meetings will begin at 9:30 a.m. on the first Monday of each month and at 6:30 p.m. the third Monday.
In January 2014, council decided to hold its committee of the whole meetings, previously held in the evening where council discussed issues but no decisions were made, during the day the first Monday of each month on a trial basis.
It retained its regular business meeting in the evening the third Monday of each month.
The following November, council eliminated its committee of the whole meetings and increased its business meetings to two evenings a month so it could make decisions in a more timely fashion. If more time was needed to discuss specific issues, council would enter into committee of the whole during its regular meetings.
Tuck said she expects this most recent change will have little impact on public attendance.
“We had a really good turnout when we had daytime meetings,” she said. “If they’re not able to make it to the first meeting (of the month) they can come to the evening meetings. It gives a nice mix.”
Barry Williamson, the Town’s chief administrative officer, said holding one of the two monthly meetings during the day will be a better situation for staff.
“It’s not costing extra money to keep them around in the evening,” he said. “Frankly, in the evening the energy level starts to run out.”
Williamson said the new schedule takes place for a year on a trial basis.
In the event a meeting falls on a holiday, it will be rescheduled to the following day or evening.
