In-Person Attendance Only During Budget Talks

In-Person Attendance Only During Budget Talks

Michelle Pinon News Advertiser

The Town of Vegreville is giving residents the opportunity to attend budget meetings in-person.

However, the option to view budget meetings via live stream is not being offered to residents.

In a post on the town’s website it states, “Due to the length of budget deliberations and the conversational style of the meetings, town council has decided not to stream the meetings to avoid discussion being taken out of context. Instead, town council has decided to host meetings in the Social Centre so any number of residents can watch the meetings while safely distancing from others.”

Kaleb Brink, Communications Coordinator for the Town of Vegreville, explained, “Because budget meetings are 4-7 hours long per session, town council feels they can’t maintain the meeting through Zoom while in these budget discussions. Town council wants to ensure that the public can view these meetings in a valuable format, and because of the difficulties that Zoom presents the only format being made available is in-person.”

He went on to say, “Council feels that the Zoom meeting format is not conducive to the conversational style of the budget meetings, as these meetings are very informal and can have side-bar conversations happening. The current limitations of the audio on Zoom and within Chambers and/or the Social Centre would make the ability to have simultaneous conversations impossible for the public to understand. And if a Councillor (or Councillors) are muted and still talking, the public has no chance of hearing the question/clarification they are communicating. “

According to the council meeting video policy, that was adopted April 15, the goal is to “allow better accessibility of these meetings to a larger audience. The process will allow more flexible and convenient access to council debate and decision. Live streaming and posting recorded video eliminates geographic and time barriers which may prevent the public from attending council meetings, allowing for greater transparency and public confidence in the integrity and accountability of the decision-making process.”

Brink also pointed out, “A Chamber renovation project is up for discussion in the 2021 budget that will allow for all meetings of council to be lives streamed in a more professional manner.”

The first budget meeting is slated for October 22 at 9 am. That is when preliminary capital budget items and a fouryear plan will be discussed.

The next budget meeting is scheduled for Nov. 18 at 9 am when the draft capital budget and four-year plan will be presented.

The final budget meeting is scheduled for Nov. 19 at 9 am. That is when a draft departmental operating budget and two year operating plan will be presented along with schedules of proposed tax splits, schedule of assessments, schedule for estimated taxes, and final tax ratios.