ARICHAT - Richmond Municipal Council's next round of public meetings will include new features designed to give the public a greater say in the decisions made by their councillors.

The county's next Committee of the Whole meeting, which will take place tomorrow (Tuesday) evening at 7 p.m. in the Richmond Municipal Building, will include a tweak to its 15-minute public question period to allow residents to ask questions that are not a part of the meeting's official agenda. 

As well, when the county holds its next regular monthly meeting on February 22, the 15-minute question period normally held at the end of the meeting will not be the only opportunity for those in the public gallery to have their say. Councillors have voted unanimously to allow for a brief question period prior to the presentation of the official report from council's Committee of the Whole, so Richmond County residents can offer opinions on any motions that will come up for an official vote at the regular council session.

The revisions to the public question periods are the latest signs of a commitment to transparency and accountability from the five new councillors elected this past October, who reinstated the public question periods to both regular meetings and the Committee of the Whole shortly after they were sworn in. The previous council, led by then-Warden Brian Marchand, quietly discarded public question periods without any official council motion or public debate in 2019. 

Council has also asked municipal staff to review the county's official communications policy to ensure that there are no gaps in the municipal legislation, which is designed to keep the public abreast of the municipality's official business.

Another move towards complete transparency is the approval of a new contract with Telile Community Television to livestream regular meetings and Committee of the Whole sessions on the night these meetings are held, rather than simply recording the meetings and playing them in their entirety the following day.