The first two public council meetings of North Hatley held following the elections were summarized and sent to citizens the very next day through the Entre Nous municipal bulletin. However, no summary has been distributed since December 12, despite the fact that two additional public council meetings have been held since then.
At the beginning of this new year, I find it reasonable to question the dissemination of council meeting summaries, which had nevertheless been well prepared and promptly shared during the two months following the elections. Perhaps the information ended up in my spam folder, or perhaps it simply has not yet been distributed.
Let us first give our municipal administration the benefit of the doubt: the return to work took place around January 6. That said, the holiday period was clearly over by Monday, January 12, when a regular council meeting was held.
A strong start… followed by a slowdown
The two most recent public meetings were summarized by the municipality and sent out the following day. This practice was intended, among other things, to compensate for the inability to record meetings since the departure of the person previously responsible for that task—work which, according to Ms. Gerrish, requires significant effort, particularly due to background noise. Since then, however, no further information has been made available to citizens. This is noteworthy given that the municipality had promised greater transparency and improved communications. In fact, the election brochure of a candidate who was elected as councillor explicitly referenced this commitment among its key objectives.
Examples of municipal efficiency following the elections
- Summary of the November 10 meeting received on November 11
- Summary of the December 1 meeting received on December 2
Déjà un vide informationnel préoccupant
Since the municipal administration of North Hatley has chosen to publish official minutes only at the subsequent meeting—approximately 30 days later, at the time of their formal adoption—citizens have access, in the interim, only to these summaries, and nothing else. As of today, the summary of the December 17 budget meeting has still not been released, despite the usual delay having passed. Furthermore, as of January 14, the summary of the January 12 meeting has not yet been sent. Admittedly, it should be forthcoming shortly.
Limited citizen interest in the municipal budget
Yet the municipal budget determines all orientations and actions for the coming year. For many citizens, it requires clear and accessible explanations. It must be acknowledged that public finance is not everyone’s cup of tea, which makes communication efforts all the more essential.
For reference, only four citizens—including myself—were present at the budget presentation. I even ended up alone in the room for several minutes. In my view, this reflects a low level of interest—or understanding—regarding municipal financial issues, a reality that should prompt stronger, not weaker, communication tools.
Electoral promises in North Hatley: a simple loss of momentum?
At this point, there are therefore two summaries that should be published in the Entre Nous municipal bulletin: one covering the discussions surrounding the municipal budget, and another summarizing the questions that were asked. I had the opportunity to raise several questions myself, which would provide relevant and useful content for citizens.
I note, with a touch of irony, that when responsibility for these summaries falls to elected officials, some appeared more absorbed by their phones during the presentation than by the figures on the screen. Let us hope this reflected attentive budget monitoring.
The elections are now behind us, and the post-election momentum may be fading. Yet one of the council’s central commitments was to increase transparency and improve communication with citizens.
As the saying goes, old habits die hard.
Hopefully, I am mistaken.
