Chatham-Kent council is shooting down the idea of holding meetings outside of the Civic Centre.
A motion to host council meetings in communities across Chatham-Kent over the next few years was defeated by a 6-11 vote Monday night.
In 2019, a council meeting was held at Ryder Hall in Tilbury. It was the first time the council held a meeting in any location other than Council Chambers at the Civic Centre.
It was put to a stop after the first meeting because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although Tilbury residents appreciated the meeting, Councillor Melissa Harrigan said they felt a better idea would be to host public engagement sessions that focused on specific Tilbury issues, instead.
"The handful of people who did come to the meeting appreciated that it was at the Tilbury arena and not a meeting in Chatham," said Harrigan. "While I do think it was a good initiative to try, the general consensus from the people in Tilbury was it would be better to promote issues that took place in our own backyard."
A report presented to council on Monday suggested moving five meetings outside of Chatham for $25,000.
“Everything I’ve heard back, I’m not sure many people care,” said Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff. “I could be wrong, but I didn’t hear from anybody, and certainly, councillors as a whole didn’t hear anything, so I think we saved $23,000.”
