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Open doors

The way the Town of Athabasca council meeting on Jan. 3 ended seems innocuous enough on paper. The minutes will likely record that the meeting came out of camera at 9:26 p.m.

The way the Town of Athabasca council meeting on Jan. 3 ended seems innocuous enough on paper.

The minutes will likely record that the meeting came out of camera at 9:26 p.m. after a three-hour in-camera session, and councillors voted to adjourn at 9:27 p.m.

It all seems fine, right?

Except for one small thing that isn’t included in the minutes – the public was not invited back into chambers to see the final vote.

It can be argued that the only motion was the simple one to adjourn. There was no discussion out of camera – only the motion. Does the public need to be there?

We at least need the opportunity.

There have been times when town council meetings seemed ready to adjourn or to go in-camera, and a discussion occurred instead. Last week, after the adjournment had already been called, the public walked into a council chambers with visibly upset councillors. The meeting had already ended.

Representatives conducting the municipal inspection for the province were also in the room. One would think that councillors would be acting their best, following the rule book to the letter.

The public does not know who voted for the motion, because it was not a recorded vote.

We have simply been told that Coun. Tim Verhaeghe made the motion just as Coun. Tanu Evans left the room for a pause after the breakless, three-hour in-camera session.

While we might argue that the two minutes needed to open the door to the public and let people settle into their seats would have changed nothing, that isn’t necessarily true – in that two minutes, it is likely that Evans would have returned to the table.

This is not the first time a town council meeting has adjourned without the public being called back into the room.

Consider this our request that it is the last.

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