A majority of City of Powell River elected officials have voted to hold a strategic planning session in-camera, which means the meeting will be closed to the public.
Mac Fraser, chief administrative officer (CAO), brought forward a report and recommendation at the November 15 committee-of-the-whole meeting. He has retained Jerry Berry Consultants to facilitate the session, which is scheduled for the evening of November 28, including dinner, and all day November 29.
Fraser’s recommendation was that the session be held in-camera. “The reason is that, in accordance with the Community Charter, you have that option,” he told council. “It is not my intention to suggest to you that you stay in-camera at all, but that you have a wide-ranging conversation, as the Community Charter allows, and, as this report suggests, you make a commitment to take a draft strategic plan into the public domain early in the new year, perhaps by way of a town hall [meeting].”
Fraser’s report suggests that a draft strategic plan be the focus of a town hall meeting in early February 2013.
The recommendation was forwarded to that evening’s council meeting. The motion cited a section of the Community Charter that allows an in-camera meeting for “discussions with municipal officers and employees respecting municipal objectives, measures and progress reports for the purposes of preparing an annual report.”
Councillors Chris McNaughton and Russell Brewer voted in opposition to the motion.
While he has actively supported strategic planning, McNaughton said, he thought a part of the meeting should be open to the public. “We are not a private sector corporation,” he said. “We’re public sector and I think it’s always important that we are open and transparent.”
Councillor Debbie Dee said the public will have an opportunity during the town hall meeting to “take a look at what’s been done, to weigh in, give opinions then and potentially make changes to what the draft document is.”
Dee said she wanted elected officials to be able to speak, hear and plan “and holler and swear if we need to and then bring that draft document to the public.”
Dee referred back to 2009, when council of the day held a strategic planning session that included the public. “That was the first one that had been open for a long time and it was a disaster,” she said. “We ended up with a weak document that we couldn’t follow.”
McNaughton pointed out this session could be open to the public to observe, not participate. He also said there could be a part of the meeting that was in-camera.
Councillor Jim Palm pointed out the city has a new CAO. “He needs to get his facts and figures lined up in a very respectful manner in consultation with council and make sure that we have everything in order prior to going to the public for further input,” he said. “I think this is the prudent way to approach that endeavour.”
Councillor Myrna Leishman said, from past experience, she believes council needs to be able to “get together and discuss freely the direction we would like to see the city go forward. It will be a draft document, we still have a town hall meeting and this will give us a framework to give to the public and to work under, which would make it probably more successful.”
Brewer said he thought a portion of the meeting should be in-camera, but the strategic planning itself could be done in an open session where people could watch. He also said he thought it would be helpful to have information about strategic priorities from the public before creating a draft plan.
While he didn’t comment during the council meeting, earlier in the day at the committee-of-the-whole meeting, Mayor Dave Formosa supported going in-camera, which he said was Fraser’s idea. He also pointed out that the previous strategic planning session had been done at an open meeting. “I would like the opportunity to do one where we are not so concerned about every word that we’re going to say or everything that we do or think of is hung out there,” he said. “I would like an opportunity to work with our group without having all eyes on us and just roll up our sleeves.”
The session is estimated to cost $6,000.
