Mixed Reviews for New Richmond Question Period Options

ARICHAT - Richmond County residents now have more options to question their municipal government during the county's public council meetings, but the moves are drawing mixed reactions in some quarters of the county. 

This month's Committee of the Whole meeting was the first to open its public question period to queries from outside of the meeting's agenda, while also accepting phone-in questions from residents who were unable to attend the meeting. 

As well, the previous Richmond council meeting - the March 22 regular monthly council session - was the first to feature two 10-minute public question periods. The first preceded the official report from Committee of the Whole, and was restricted to issues raised in the report. The second, which took place at the end of the council meeting, allowed the public to address issues that came up during the remainder of the regular council session.

While the question period preceding the Committee of the Whole report was introduced at council's regular meeting in January, Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette admitted that council needed some time to solidify its meeting format before introducing the late-meeting second period, but expressed hope that the format would allow for more transparency within the public meeting format. 

However, the new measures did not make their debuts without some difficulties. When the April 9 meeting of council's Committee of the Whole opened up its question period to phone calls from Richmond residents watching the meeting's livestream on Telile Community Television, the lone caller to take advantage of the service insisted that he be allowed to remain anonymous, in contradiction to the traditional question-period policy of having questioners identify themselves. 

While Warden Mombourquette allowed the male caller to proceed without giving his name, it is not clear whether this practice will remain in place for future Committee of the Whole sessions.