Regina City Council will be moving their regularly scheduled meetings from Mondays to Wednesdays in 2020.
The move will also see meetings start at 1:30 in the afternoon instead of 5:30 at night and include two breaks for Councillors. If the meeting is still incomplete, council will reconvene at 9:00 AM the next day.
Ward 2 Councillor Bob Hawkins said he’s pleased with the decision.
“I think it’ll make it easier for Councillors,” Hawkins said. “It won’t break up their days in the same way that they’ve been broken up in the past by committee meetings and and council meetings. Now, as a rule, most of our meetings are on Wednesdays, that enables us to plan our week.”
Hawkins said the break times that are allotted are important for Councillors to regain their focus during the meeting.
“The 15 minute break is simply a health break, and it’s important after you do a couple of hours that you do have a health break,” Hawkins said. “The longer break is after we’ve been meeting for some length of time, and it may involve a chance to grab a bite to eat.”
Hawkins said council’s workload has increased in recent years.
“It reflects the fact that we’re a growing city, we’re busy, and we had to find a way to deal with it,” Hawkins said. “You have to remember that being a Councillor is a part-time job, so many of the Councillors, in addition to the council work work they do — which I think is really full-time work — they have another job, which is their regular employment.”
Hawkins added this will likely help productivity with council, as he feels meetings that go into the late hours of the night lose their value the longer they go.
