WHEREAS virtual access to Council and Committee of the Whole meetings assists with greater access to Town meetings by all Town of The Blue Mountains ratepayers and;
WHEREAS Staff and Council members have come to appreciate the merits of augmented communication opportunities with ongoing virtual access and;
WHEREAS quorum is more readily established with this additional form of communication;
WHEREAS an in-person presence is always preferred but cannot always be achieved;
THEREFORE, the Town of the Blue Mountains does accept virtual communication by Council members and Staff as an alternate form of communication to an in-person presence at all Council/ Committee of the Whole and closed meetings and that a virtual presence of a Council member does count toward quorum;
In regard to the consideration of allowing members of Council to actively participate virtually in Committee of the Whole Meetings and Meeting of Council, the following request be made to consider an efficient process to consider eliminating the number of meetings a Member of Council is permitted to attend virtually as required by the Town's Procedural By-law 2022-76 under the following sections:
Section 13 b.. i) Electronic participation is not permitted in a Closed Session unless the municipality is in a declared state of emergency as referenced in Section 4.14;
Section 13 b. iii) No more than three Council Members may be absent from or participating electronically in any Council Meeting, Committee of the Whole Meeting, or Council Meeting, Public Meeting;
And Section 13 b. v) On a semi-annual basis, each Council Member may participate electronically in no more than four (4) Council, Committee of the Whole Meeting, or Council Meeting, Public Meeting, calculated from January to July, and from August to December each year;
This Notice of Motion be considered a request that Council provide direction to staff to bring forward a recommendation through a Staff Report that identifies options to eliminate the limitations of Members of Council to participate electronically (virtually) in Council, Committee of the Whole Meeting, or Council Meeting, Public Meeting along with any other suggested modifications or amendments to the Town Procedural By Law that may be required to allow all Members of Council to participate electronically (virtually) without limitations.