Earlier today, I shared with my blog readers' a letter that I wrote yesterday (Tuesday, June 22nd) to Mayor and Council - City of Williams Lake regarding the City's 2009 Annual Report.
This afternoon, I received an email response from Brian Carruthers, the City's CAO (Chief Administrator):
Steve,
I am responding to your letter of June 22, 2010 regarding the requirement for public review of the Annual Report prior to consideration by Council. Requirements under Section 99 of the Charter were overlooked when the Annual Report was submitted to Council for their consideration at the June 22nd Council meeting. The City is inquiring with the Ministry as to options available to us with respect to the Charter. In the meantime, Council passed a resolution to hold a special Council meeting on June 30 to approve the 2009 Annual Report, recognizing the report will only have been available to the public for 13 days (June 18 – June 30). Thank you for bringing this matter to the City’s attention. This e-mail will be filed as response to your June 22, 2010 letter.
However, his response does raise 1 question:
1) The Annual Report requirements have been in place since 2004 - how could both City Staff and Williams Lake City Council, as a whole, somehow "overlook" the requirement to ensure that the Annual Report is both in paper and electronic copy and that the public has sufficient time to review the 2009 Annual Report. (Section 99(2) of the Community Charter says 14 days must take place between public release of the Annual Report and the public Council meeting where a municipal council formally considers the report for adoption)
The entire City Council knew the process last year (2009 for the 2008 Annual Report) so they (Williams Lake City Council) have no real excuse here.
Let's hope they learn their lesson and that this is not repeated in 2011 for the 2010 Annual Report
My read of this situation is that the Ministry will likely tell the City to have the 2009 Annual Report adopted by June 30th - a week from today and remind the City to do what is required under Sections 97-99 of the Community Charter in 2011 for the 2010 Annual Report
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