Op-Ed - RM of McKillop No. 220 Silences Ratepayers

-By Ray Allen, RM of McKillop Ratepayer

September 29, 2024

First, they tried to eliminate Zoom from all Council meetings (July 30/24 Meeting Minutes Resolution 2024/0917) to force ratepayers to attend council meetings in person. Due to ratepayer backlash Council stepped back from that idea. Instead, they decided not to post Zoom meetings on the RM's website only the audio even though many ratepayers have stated they wanted the meetings recorded on Zoom. Where did this council get the idea that not using Zoom for council meetings was an improvement or that it supported their "open and transparent" communications commitment or support their Strategic Plan? I suspect that their tendencies to be singularly focused may have had a lot to do with the decision.

The RM posted a revised bylaw on Council Procedures for the July 9 council meeting, which I reviewed. It was clear during this review that ratepayers were not considered, and its focus was on how council meetings are to be conducted and documented. That is fine to a point, but council seemed to have forgotten that they were elected by the ratepayers to represent the ratepayers, not themselves.

After I reviewed this document, I presented 15 questions to council at the July 9 Council Meeting. At the end of my presentation two councillors and the Reeve ask if they could get a copy of my questions. So I basically completed council members homework for them because at this meeting they gave the bylaw 1st reading approval without any of them posing questions, concerns or recommendations.