Councillor Cunningham's quest for more community presentations to Council up for discussion tonight

Offering more opportunities for information sharing at City Council sessions
will be a topic at tonight's council session,

It's a topic that Councillor Barry Cunningham has been trying to move forward at City Council for more than a year or so now, with the Councillor looking to have Council make better use of its Committee of the Whole process to invite community funded organizations and civic department heads come to Council to provide regular updates on their work.

At tonight's Council meeting, Council members will give consideration to a resolution to move forward with that proposed community engagement initiative, something which if approved could see the program put in place as early as the next Committee of the Whole meeting in March.

And while the focus on more information for the public is welcome, there are however fewer opportunities for Council to hear those presentations this year.

That as a result of a move from late last year which saw Council members quietly approve a reduced calendar in December for Public Sessions for 2018, a decision, held without any public discussion, which will see no Council meetings held through September or October.

It's been over a year since Mr. Cunningham launched his latest quest for more engagement with the public was introduced.

The Councillor's theme has picked up some steam in recent months, a few of the notes on more public input can be found below:

January 2018 -- Growing list of police report incidents may spur Council to follow up on recommendation from Councillor Cunningham
December 2017 -- With threat uttered to staff, the city of Prince Rupert changes policies related to access to City Hall and Municipal officials
November 2017-- Council to hold to current process for Committee of the Whole; explore other engagement options as well
October 2017 -- Council to explore new areas for community involvement in Council Sessions
October 2017 -- City Staff to seek approval of new communication policy at Monday Council Session
October 2017 -- City Council is sliding backwards when it comes to civic engagement
October 2017 -- Council looks to move on Mirau's call for more transparency on close council issues
October 2017 -- Councillor Cunningham reinforces his desire for more information sharing with the public

For more background on tonight's Council session see our Preview here.

More items of note on City Council discussions can be reviewed from our archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.