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Penticton  

Council looks to save time

Penticton council has unanimously supported a motion made by a councillor for a changed meeting schedule.

The matter was discussed this week after Coun. Helena Konanz suggested at the last meeting that staff look into it.

"I think what this motion did was make it a priority for staff," she said. "We have a schedule that is similar to communities, four, five, six times smaller than us, so we need to look at communities that are our size like Vernon and West Kelowna and what they are doing."

Also of concern is that several recent meetings have lasted hours, she added.

Following the approval by council, staff will be looking into what other communities are doing.

One option that Konanz has suggested is to hold public hearings and council meetings on separate days.

"I don't want to make the meetings shorter, I just want to make them more efficient," she said.

Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said earlier this month that staff had already started researching how other city councils conduct their meetings. 

This includes frequency, time of day, length of meetings and other processes to make it more of an efficient and effective use of staff, council and the community's time and ability to contribute or participate, he said.

Konanz said she hopes there will be a vote for change, when staff brings the matter forward.



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