Coffee with council a way to voice concerns ahead of budget
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Coffee with council has been a RM of Piney institution since 2012. It is a chance for the public to meet with reeve and council to voice concerns about the upcoming budget.
“We found it very useful to hold during the period between when we set the budget and when we hold our financial plan hearing in the spring,” said Reeve Wayne Anderson.
“And we found that very useful to do this before the (financial plan comes out) because everybody can tell us what they want and we can make a few tweaks in the financial plan.”
Anderson said the number of people that come to the meetings depends on if there is something controversial or not going on in the community. He said between five and 20 people come if there is no controversy.
“A lot of the people that come to the meeting are engaged with the community. They are the community champions,” he said. “They disseminate the information out to the community even if there’s only 20 people there, a lot of people hear about this.”
Anderson estimates the financial plan will come out in May this year rather than April as in previous years due to other commitments in the RM at the moment.
“A lot of people come to the coffee with council to hear the financial plan to find out what their taxes are going to be next year. They want to know if there’s going to be an increase in taxes and the budget we set.
“If we have these three coffee with council informal meetings for the financial planning, most of the time we don’t have anyone in the audience for the hearing because they know about it already and their concerns have been addressed.”
Anderson sees the meetings as a way for residents to get engaged in municipal affairs.
“Please try to come and see what’s going on in the RM. We want to tell them what is happening and we want to hear their questions,” he said. “We want to hear what their concerns are. As a council we’re doing things for them so we want to know what they want to do.”
Coffee with council will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on March 10 at Over 40 Club in Piney, on March 12 at the Woodridge Community Centre, and on March 13 at the Evergreen Seniors Centre in Sprague.