Concern over a growing workload prompted Councillor Kristi Wells to call for another council meeting at the end of August.
But she could not get support from her fellow councillors.
Wells was hoping to add a meeting on Aug. 29 to ease a growing agenda scheduled for the first meeting in September on the 6 th . At that time council will be dealing with several important issues, namely a decision on the Paralympic arena, information on the Rainbow rezoning and the Holborn rezoning, two major developments in the pipeline, and a report on council’s procedure bylaw.
For them all to land on the same day might not be the most effective way of dealing with them, said Wells, effectively forcing council to rush through the debate on some topics.
But Councillor Caroline Lamont would not support her request, saying she was returning from an overseas municipal business trip the day before that.
She also reminded council that they did not take a summer holiday this year, much like other councils in the province.
Councillor Ken Melamed reminded his colleagues that a committee of community members recommended council use their time more effectively.
"I think it’s unreasonable," he said of Wells’s request.
Councillor Marianne Wade said she was also concerned about the heavy workload on Sept. 6 and asked council to consider a public meeting immediately after their closed-door session on Aug. 29. This would mean a public meeting during the day rather than the evening.
Again, there was no support as there was some concern the staff reports could not be produced in time.
At Monday’s meeting Wells also addressed concerns about the number of things that still need to be accomplished by the end of this council’s term. There are only five regularly scheduled meetings until the election in November. Wells wants to look at a list of priorities and scheduling for the fall. She wants council to direct staff to focus on key priorities, namely the Rainbow rezoning, the Holborn rezoning, the Paralympic arena, the athletes village, the search for the new municipal administrator and council’s procedural bylaw.
Staff will come back with a timeline for council on some of those outstanding projects.
