Every year, my nerdy friends and I get together to plan our responses for the City of Chilliwack annual budget feedback meeting.
We research budget items that we feel moved to highlight and take turns at the mic. We might even have a geriatric beer afterwards.
Many of us are professionals with expertise in the topics about which we speak. Others have long-standing interests in fire protection, homelessness, saving the slough, bike lanes, affordable housing, recreational services and environmental protection.
The beauty of attending a budget feedback session or any council meeting is that any city resident can participate. You don’t have to be chosen for a mayor’s committee on public safety or arts and culture. You select yourself. Participation builds community engagement and connection, generating ideas and shared understanding. At one budget feedback meeting I learned from other speakers that forested hillside residential neighbourhoods are at extreme danger of interface fires. I think my eyes popped.
How do we contribute now that the evening meetings were legislated away last summer?
On the City of Chilliwack website, look under the “City Hall: drop-down menu at the top of the page to find a “How to Participate” option. Click on that to find generic information about emailing the clerk’s office or dropping a letter off at city hall. Click on “Agendas and Meetings” and you’ll find the agenda for the Dec. 3 meeting. The budget hearing takes place at 4 p.m., while many of us are at work.
Only the privileged will be able to attend that meeting and this year, that won’t include me. I will have to be at work. People who are retired or have flexible schedules are the only people who will be able to attend that meeting. Only people who are already invited to the party will be able to attend. The rest of us must be content with sending a letter.
It’s easy to pay little or no attention to a letter or an email. It doesn’t have the impact of a personal interaction. It doesn’t get recorded on YouTube along with councillor and staff responses that residents can watch later.
What do other cities do? Both the District of Hope and Village of Harrison Hot Springs evening council meetings start at 7 p.m. The District of Kent meetings start at 7 p.m. The City of Abbotsford meets in the afternoons, with public hearings, if needed, at 6 p.m.
The City of Chilliwack should hold a public budget feedback evening meeting. Maybe they should hold several of them in different venues in the city. The current practice limits democracy and narrows the feedback that the city can receive. Shame.
Lisa Morry
Chilliwack
