ARICHAT - This week's edition of the TELILE 24/7 Podcast takes a closer look at several issues that have come to the Richmond Municipal Council table in recent weeks. 

Chief among these are a pair of changes that will come into effect at tonight's public meeting of council's Committee of the Whole. The public question period that normally ends these meetings will now be open to any subject that a member of the gallery wishes to bring up, including issues that are not part of the meeting agenda. 

As well, at the next regular council meeting and all future meetings, a separate public question period will be permitted prior to the presentation of the Committee of the Whole report. According to Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette, this will allow a greater say in decisions on council that come out of this report, as opposed to relegating these questions to the end of the regular council meeting when it is too late for citizens to voice an opinion in time to impact the council voice.

Other council items featured in the podcast include a partnership with a local health care centre to address food security with a community-garden proposal, a forthcoming revision of the municipality's Climate Action Plan, and a plan to offer Richmond County as a test area for a project that is studying the potential presence of COVID-19 in municipal wastewater and sewage systems. 

The new TELILE 24/7 podcast will also feature a presentation to the January 11 Committee of the Whole meeting by Allan Eddy, the business development manager for the Point Tupper-based Port Hawkesbury Paper mill  Eddy's presentation traces the past and present of Port Hawkesbury Paper's presence in the Strait Area, and looks ahead to the diversification of the mill's traditional paper-based product line.