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The public is entitled to address their local government at council meetings.
Council meetings discuss issues ranging from snow removal to public transit to parking bylaws.
More than any other level of government, municipalities directly impact our daily lives. Over the years, Saskatchewan municipalities have struggled with issues such as store hours, smoking bans, casinos, curfews, garbage collection, recycling and road repair. The decisions they come to on these issues are made at local council meetings.
Local council meetings take place at regular intervals and are open to the public. At these meetings, council will debate and discuss the operation of the community, citizens are given the opportunity to speak about issues important to them, and laws governing the municipality are considered.
The laws made at a municipal level are called bylaws. Municipalities make bylaws for the “peace, order and good government” of the municipality, and for promoting the health, safety, and welfare of the community.
Bylaws can cover issues big or small. For example, the city of Saskatoon recently attempted to enact a city-wide anti-bullying bylaw. Meanwhile, the town of Shellbrook introduced a bylaw that limited garage sales after one went on every day all summer. As you can see, communities have the power to enact bylaws dealing with quite a range of issues.
Passing a bylaw takes place in several steps. Once a council decides that a bylaw is needed, the community’s administration prepares a draft of the bylaw. The draft will be presented at a council meeting to be considered and voted on. Bylaws are considered and voted on in three stages, usually over the course of several council meetings. This helps ensure that the bylaws are given thoughtful consideration by council and the public has time to weigh in.
This bylaw creation process is largely open to the public. Citizens can speak at council to share their thoughts and concerns about local bylaws, or simply sit in on the meetings to observe debate and discussion. As well, municipal offices make documents publicly available so citizens can review things such as drafts of bylaws and reports to council.
Not all of council’s work is done in public, though. Councils and their committees can meet in private to discuss long-range or strategic plans and to discuss matters that cannot be discussed in public because of privacy legislation. However, all laws must be passed at public council meetings.
In their book Democratic Schools, Michael W. Apple and James Beane said that “Democracy is not simply a theory of self-interest that gives people license to pursue their own goals at the expense of others. The common good is a central feature of democracy.”
