Harrison Hot Springs residents are sounding off about a potential change in venue for council meetings.
According to the agenda for Monday night’s regular council meeting, at least 10 emails came in from residents of Harrison Hot Springs concerning the potential change of location for the meetings.
During the Jan. 16 regular council meeting, councillors opted to up to $5,000 to move audio/visual equipment to the village office (495 Hot Springs Road) from Memorial Hall (290 Esplanade Avenue) and to spend $15,000 on furnishings to make the village office space more “multi-functional.”
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This would enable the council to broadcast meetings online via Zoom from the village office as well as archive the video recordings on their official YouTube page. However, the crux of the issue from residents who wrote in is a significantly lower capacity of the village office for the public to attend the meeting in person compared to Memorial Hall.
Recent council meetings have seen considerably higher in-person and online attendance than in recent months, particularly prior to the 2022 election.What’s more, some of the writers cited continuing health concerns of moving to a tighter space due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
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Last year, the Harrison Festival Society requested community groups be permitted to use Memorial Hall on the weekends, pitching the possibility of moving council meetings to a different day of the week, should they choose to continue meeting at Memorial Hall. The council received the letter in September and moved to pass this decision on to the incoming village council. During the Nov. 21 regular council meeting, council referred the matter back to staff to explore options for Memorial Hall’s use.
Whether or not the letters will be read at the council meeting is up to mayor and council themselves. The letters are available here; the notes concerning the location change start on on page 17 (as marked on the bottom-right corner) and going to page 35.
Also on tonight’s agenda:
– Council will vote on amending the traffic bylaw (1185) to reflect the recently approved pay parking changes. During a recent Committee of the Whole meeting, council voted 4-1 to increase long-term pay parking rates in Zone 2 (Esplanade Avenue, streets between Esplanade Avenue and Lillooet Avenues, including Maple Street, Chehalis Street and Spruce Street) to $5 per hour and $20 per day. Coun. John Buckley was opposed. There are no scheduled changes for parking prices in Zone 1 (St. Alice Street, Hot Springs Road, Esplanade Avenue west of Hot Springs Road) as of press time.
– Council will conduct first and second readings on proposed amendments for the 2023-2027 budget. Before adoption, the budget will go to public consultation via an open house that is to be held on March 20.
The council meeting starts at 7 p.m. tonight at Memorial Hall. Zoom broadcast is available through harrisonhotsprings.ca. The video of the meeting is archived on the village’s YouTube channel, typically within a few days.
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adam.louis@ ahobserver.com
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