Question 4.  Council members currently receive their notes on the Friday before the council meeting, just days before to digest a large amount of information. In other municipalities council receives much more time to digest and are actually briefed on the several pages of documents they are responsible to read. Is it any wonder that there were several disagreements on partially understood information? How will you change the process at Town Hall to bring them in alignment with other municipalities? How will you design the process so it is less of a speed read and more of a conversation based on information that is well understood?

2014 then-candidate Aldo DiCarlo

This is a pretty easy question to answer, as it was also an issue with the members of the University Of Windsor Board Of Governors when I was a member. Everyone digests and understands at different rates and levels. I don’t believe that there is any concrete timeframe that applies to everyone. The next council should discuss and agree on what a ‘reasonable’ amount of time is. Then, they should stick to it. If information is not available within the prescribed time, post pone the meeting. I know there are those who might argue the inconvenience to those who have planned for the date posted, but then I ask, “Would you rather have a meeting with councillors who aren’t prepared to properly address issues now, or would you rather they deal with the issues when they fully understand the agenda, and have had time for proper consultation with any citizens necessary?” As a final thought, a mayor and council who are abreast of issues, and stay informed with ongoing issues, won’t likely be presented with much they don’t already understand. This is not to say that I, nor anyone else, can know everything or anything all of the time, but part of the job of council is know their municipality’s issues, citizens, concerns and needs. No one person can know the whole town, but if everyone on council knows something, collectively they can know quite a lot. This would include what they don’t know, and need to find out. I’m not someone who is afraid, or opposed, to admit when they need more information.