Monday Night Council Meeting To Include Many Firsts
This Monday night's meeting of Moose Jaw City Council is going to be a series of firsts.
The first we hear publicly about further measures Administration is taking in the face of the Covid - 19 pandemic.
Measures about extending the tax payment deadline, not collecting interest and penalties for overdue utility bills and what the City is proposing to assist local businesses will all be debated on Monday evening.
Another first is the media is being locked out from physically attending Council if they chose to do so.
In a series of questions from last Thursday morning's media update and press conference city manager Jim Puffalt said there were measures coming when asked about two initiatives approved in Prince Albert.
Those initiatives approved by Council in Prince Albert included:
- not charging interest and penalties on water bills which do not have to be paid during the Covid – 19 pandemic
- allowing property owners to apply to move the due date for property taxes from June 30 to September 30 without penalty or interest.
“The report is coming to Council on Monday. There is a number of measures in there and I don’t think we want to pre-empt Council's discussion so we will be able to talk more about that next week,” Puffalt said when asked if the City was considering further measures to assist residents weather the financial effects of the pandemic.
On a secondary question by MJ Independent regarding following Price Albert's decision to extend the tax payment deadline he said details would have to wait until Council on Monday evening.
Regarding a decision already made to not allow the media physical access to Council on Monday night Puffalt replied the City was well within its right to do so.
'I think it’s the ten person requirement that’s in placed upon us. And you have to know the strategic leadership our EMO (Emergency Measures Organization) team meets in the Council chambers on a regular basis. We have to insure a safe work zone for everybody..so provincial requirements and safe work zones,” he replied to a question from the Moose Jaw Express.
Council's March 23rd meeting and social distancing the Council chambers afforded - MJ Independent file photo
In a news release announcing the media conference the City had announced the physical ban of media from Council on Monday night
The decision was not approved by Council itself.
Further asked by the Moose Jaw Express why the City of Moose Jaw was not following the examples set by the Province and the City of Regina when it comes to daily briefings and council meetings Puffalt said Moose Jaw was independent of other elected bodies' decisions.
“We are an independent organization and we make our own decisions. Again we believe we are limited by the ten people in an area and maintain a six foot distancing and we insure our council meetings and briegings are broadcast and we give the opportunity to take questions from reporters as we do now,” he said.
The province allows a pool reporter to attend daily briefings and the City of Regina allows the medua to attend briefings and council meetings.
Asked about how it seemed the City of Moose Jaw was not following the example set by the Province Puffalt replied “we are doing what the City of Moose Jaw is doing.”
Regarding having a pool reporter cover briefings and Council meetings Puffalt declined to answer any further questions on the topic.
A pool reporter is where one reporter is allowed to attend and asks questions on behalf of all media providing their notes, photographs and recordings to all media outlets.
At the last regular meeting of council only MJ Independent and Moose Jaw Today attended. Presently Discovermoosejaw have voluntarily chosen to self isolate and not coming out into the community to report news.
It is unknown if the issue of physical media accessibility will be discussed at this Monday evening's regular council meeting. The provincial government has determined media - including local media - is an essential service.