It would have been so easy, but no public input was sought for the Town of Amherstburg’s newly adopted procedural bylaw, which seems more restrictive than our local comparator municipalities and more than it used to be, despite one of Mayor Prue’s campaign priorities to Promote citizen participation in municipal affairs and allow full deputation rights at town meetings.

The Town of Port Hope, population approximately 17,538, conducted a Procedural By-law Review and actually wanted input from its residents; from their website:

Through this review, we hope to:

• Improve the meeting experience for all attendees, including public, delegates and Council Members
• Ensure decision making is efficient
• Reflect the changing demographics within the municipality
• Account for changes in technology

Why is it important?

The Procedural By-law is important because it: 

1. Ensures fairness and consistency in the decision making process
2. Fosters respectful conduct and collaborative approaches to decision making
3. Supports an open, accountable, transparent governance process so that the public, Council and staff understand how decisions are made and what to expect at the meetings.

CALL TO ACTION

Email Mayor Pure: mprue@amherstburg.ca to remind him one of his campaign priorities was to Promote citizen participation in municipal affairs and allow full deputation rights at town meetings.