by A Cape Breton Regional Councillor says the CBRM’s image isn’t being helped when council’s schedule is changed without public notice.
District 11 Councillor Kendra Coombes tells Local Xpress such schedule changes are one of the factors that have led some people in the municipality to think council is too secretive.
Councillors normally meet on the first and third Tuesdays of every month for general committee and full council meetings, but the two meetings are being combined into a single session for July and August, and there was no public notice when a general committee wasn’t held on the first Tuesday of this month.
Coombes’ comments are the latest in a series of criticisms relating to how council meetings are organized.
Councillor Ray Paruch raised similar concerns over the winter, and Mayor Cecil Clarke has been criticized for the number of in-camera meetings council has held.
On the latest schedule changes, Clarke says he has the prerogative to alter the schedule, and he adds he’s done so to accommodate councilors and staff during the summer months.
Clarke notes there were no summer meetings for a time before he came into office.
The clerk’s office usually posts notice of council meetings on the Friday before they take place.
Clarke says the next council meeting is now expected to take place in the third week of next month.
