Local govt transparency rising: Council opens meetings to questions from public
Previous councils weren’t in favour of it, but the Fort St. John City Council of 2025 has embraced the idea of opening their regular meetings up to questions from the public without argument.
Council and city staff have said on many occasions that transparency is one of the City’s key values which also include respect and responsiveness. Putting their words into action, council voted unanimously to move forward with the process of amending the Council Procedure Bylaw, adding questions from the public to the end of the meeting, following a presentation and report on the options, during the Committee of the Whole on Monday, November 10.
Corporate Officer Bonnie McCue’s presentation outlined not only the options for placing the Public Question Period in regular meeting agendas but also noted concerns or unintended outcomes of opening meetings up to questions from the public.
“The first option proposed inserts a new section titled Public Comment on Agenda Items near the beginning of the meeting, after Presentations and Delegations,” McCue said.