New Parksville Mayor Doug O’Brien said in his inaugural address this month that one of his goals is to improve dialogue and transparency.
Now council is taking steps to do just that, introducing a 15-minute question period at the start of each meeting.
Residents can put their names on a list and have two minutes each to ask a question. The only restriction is they can’t ask about bylaws that are still going through the public hearing process, the municipality said in a statement.
They can ask questions of any council member but the question must be directed through the meeting’s chairperson. Council members can reply or refer the question to city staff for further investigation.
In each case, a reply will be provided to residents who put their contact information on the sign-up sheet, council says.
The city also has an online engagement forum called Let’s Talk Parksville.
