St. Albert residents may soon learn about public hearings and city council meetings in a new way, according to a proposed advertising bylaw that passed its first reading at council's April 19 meeting.
Currently, the Municipal Government Act (MGA) outlines that a municipality must advertise council meetings, bylaws, resolutions, and public hearings, in at least one newspaper or other publication circulating in the area that the proposed item relates to. The advertisement must run for two consecutive weeks in advance of the event.
These rules only apply if the municipality has not created its own advertising bylaw. St. Albert's new proposed bylaw would grant the City's chief administrative officer (CAO) the ability to publish legal advertisements using one or a combination of the following methods: on the City of St. Albert’s website, on the City of St. Albert’s official social media sites, and on local media outlets’ official websites or social media sites.
Timelines for notifying the public outlined in the MGA would still apply.
Council took the bylaw off the consent agenda only to schedule a public hearing date, which means they did not discuss the content of the bylaw. The public hearing is set for Aug. 15 at 3 p.m.
Cory Sinclair, manager of corporate communications with St. Albert, said in an interview the City is looking to utilize a diversity of sources to release information to the public.
Additionally, Sinclair said quick turnarounds for agenda items such as special council meetings mean meeting print newspaper publishing deadlines are difficult. Sinclair also said the City is looking at getting information out in “a very rapid way,” and is looking at alternatives, including social media.
Another benefit of the switch, according to an administrative backgrounder, includes increasing the ability to use low-cost methods of advertising.
Councillor wary of bylaw
Coun. Sheena Hughes said she has “serious reservations” about the proposed bylaw.
“I don’t have a problem if you want to expand the number of outlets that we’re using to communicate with the public,” Hughes said. “It’s another thing to say we’re going to be interchanging them.”
Hughes argued a potential lack of consistency will make it more difficult for members of the public to receive the City’s advertisements.
“Not everybody’s on social media,” Hughes said, adding that letting the public know about the City’s new advertising rules will also be tricky when residents are expecting to continue receiving information through the same channels.
Hughes also said she is concerned the public hearing for the advertising bylaw has been scheduled during the summer, a time when residents are historically less engaged with council matters.
“People are on vacation … and then we schedule a public hearing about how we communicate with the public,” Hughes said.
Other council members spoke favourably about the proposed bylaw.
Coun. Ken MacKay echoed Sinclair in noting that the bylaw is a response to several different factors, but “primarily a modernization of how we get information to the residents.”
“It’s allowing our administration … to be able to access or to utilize other types of social media so we can better inform or get the information out quicker in a format that more and more of our residents are using,” MacKay said.
Mayor Cathy Heron noted that other municipalities have already adopted an advertising bylaw, including Edmonton, Leduc, and Morinville.
Heron said she often hears from St. Albert residents that they aren’t aware of changes and upcoming decisions until they’re already made.
“There's no perfect solution to communicate with residents,” Heron said. “The only way to do your due diligence is to use as many forms as possible.”
If the City begins to put more technical items on their website and uses The Gazette and social media to advertise more “engaging kinds of communication” with residents, Heron said the community might become more plugged in.
