Procedure By-Law

Hornepayne residents you have an opportunity to give me your insight before our Special Meeting on November 30th. The Special Meeting has been advertised to review our Procedural By-law. The Procedural By-law is one of the mandatory By-laws that municipalities are required to have in place as stipulated in the Ontario Municipal Act. This By-law governs the calling, place and proceedings of meetings. Council is the elected or acclaimed body that deals with the matters at hand. Council meetings are the arena that has been established to deal with public matters. The meetings must follow the set rules in order to allow Council the appropriate time to deal with all matters efficiently and effectively. It is the Procedural By-law that sets out the parameters for everyone to be heard. Any individuals or groups can request, in writing, to speak to council directly by way of a deputation. Deputations are currently slotted in at the beginning of each meeting. There are two 10 minute time slots per meeting. Aside from this, the By-law also gives the Mayor the power to address a member of the public and to allow that person to speak if he/she sees fit. There are many aspects to the Procedural By-law and I specifically want to know if there is anything that you think we can do to improve and to make our meetings more welcoming. This By-law is only reviewed periodically; therefore, now is the time to be heard. You can review our current Procedural By-law No. 1397 at www.townshipofhornepayne.ca. Although I can’t promise that all of your suggestions will be incorporated into the By-law, I can promise that I will take the time to hear your recommendations and I will present them, on your behalf, at our Special Meeting on the 30th. You can email me at cheryltfort@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Cheryl T Fort