Parksville city council will host a series of town halls to give residents opportunities to provide feedback on issues. The meetings will not be scheduled regularly, but will be held when public interest creates a need for discussion, according to Coun. Adam Fras.
“It’s something that we need in this community right now. Something we haven’t been able to put together for the last 12 months or so,” said Mayor Ed Mayne, adding the pandemic made it difficult to host public forums.
Fras said he introduced the motion to help facilitate more respectful conversations and reduce the negativity on social media platforms.
“We can and we must do better to give our residents a voice away from disruptive personalities, a lot of them who don’t even live here but like to interfere with our community —they end up creating a lot of noise and confusion that benefits nobody except for their own self-interest,” he said.
Coun. Teresa Patterson voted in favour of holding the town hall meetings and mentioned holding virtual meetings over Zoom would be a challenge.
“I understand the need to have discussion because there’s so much misinformation,” she said. Patterson also pointed out the meetings would likely create an additional budgetary cost.
City staff will report back to council the options for hosting the town halls, virtually or otherwise, along with possibilities of dates and topics.
