By Cecilia Nasmith
Cobourg council approved the 2020 meeting scheduled at Tuesday's council meeting, and Mayor John Henderson pointed out some changes the new year will bring.
Council has been on a cycle of having a committee-of-the-whole meeting on a Monday, following it up with a regular council meeting the following Monday, then sitting out the third Monday of the cycle. Now, Henderson pointed out, that third Monday will be reserved for the purposes of holding a public meeting.
Until now, these public meetings have begun at 5 p.m. on a council night, an hour prior to a regular or committee-of-the-whole meeting time, but they sometimes run overtime. By separating them out, Henderson said, the hope is to reduce the length of council meetings, which have begun to stretch well beyond four hours on the occasional night.
Changes are also in store for summer meetings, which occasionally combine committee-of-the-whole and regular meetings on the same night. This practice will come to an end, though the earlier 4 p.m. starting time for July and August meetings will stand.
And, of course, meetings will be moved to Tuesdays whenever certain Mondays are holidays.
For 2020, committee-of-the-whole meetings will take place Jan. 6 and 27, Feb. 18 (because of Family Day on Feb. 17), March 9 and 30, April 20, May 11, June 1, June 22, July 20, Aug. 24, Sept. 14, Oct. 5 and 25, Nov. 16 and Dec. 7.
Regular council meetings will take place Jan. 13, Feb. 3 and 24, March 16, April 6 and 27, May 19 (because of Victoria Day May 18), June 8 and 29, July 27, Aug. 31, Sept. 21, Oct. 13 (because of Thanksgiving Oct. 12), Nov. 2 and 23, and Dec. 14.
Mondays reserved for public meetings are Jan. 20, Feb. 10, March 2 and 23, April 14, May 4 and 25, June 15, Sept. 28, Oct. 19, Nov 9 and 30, and Dec. 21.
