EAGLE VALLEY
NEWS
Disabled duck to receive prosthetic foot Page 6
Legion to host Neil Diamond tribute artist Page 8
Wednesday, October 9, 2013 PM40008236
Vol. 57 No. 41 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (GST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
The cat came to Parkview: Canadian children’s performer Fred Penner encourages his enthusiastic audience to sing along during a special concert held Monday at Parkview Elementary. Penner is visiting Shuswap schools as part of School District #83’s performing arts program. Photo by James Murray
Council questioned over unrecorded change of procedure Procedure bylaw: District staff requested to move question period back to end of meetings. By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
At the request of council, the district will be spending time and money to move question period back to where it’s supposed to be. On more than one occasion, the question of question period, and why it currently sits where it does on meeting agendas, has been raised in council. The public’s official opportunity to ask questions of mayor and council is currently scheduled before ‘new business’ and reports from mayor and council. In the past it was at the end of the public portion of council meetings. At council’s
Sept. 25 meet“It will be ing, Coun. Fred quite a bit of Busch moved that staff time. I don’t council instruct anticipate it beEven if it was done incorrectly, because staff to amend ing able to come this specific procedure guideline was the council proback to the table cedures bylaw to for about two followed for this amount of time, this move question months,” Frank would now be considered the bylaw. period back to explained. “We Heidi Frank where it was. have to put it District of Sicamous CAO District adthrough hearings, ministrator Heidi public notice, we Frank explained have to advertise this could be done, but warned it wouldn’t it in the newspaper, we have to get ministry be immediate as there’s “quite a process” approval.” involved. The last time question period was at
the end of a council meeting was June 13, 2012. At the same meeting council gave second and third reading to the council procedure bylaw, Bylaw No. 842, which has question period scheduled for the end of council meetings. The next council meeting wasn’t until July 27, 2012. The delay between the normally bi-monthly meetings was on account of the debris flow of June 23, and subsequent flooding that put the district into a state of emergency. At the July 27 meeting, Bylaw No. 842 received final reading. Yet question period had moved to its current position. See Precedent on page 3