After six months, town council appears to remain divided over what exactly public engagement means.

On Monday night, council overrode a recommendation of administration to create a councillor-free advisory group on how to utilize downtown public land and has added one town councillor to the fold.

After the necessary paperwork is completed, eight members of the public and one town councillor will now be working with town administration and consultant Urban Systems Ltd. to develop recommendations on how the 5th Ave. site and two parcels of public land on Railway St. should be utilized

The advisory group format proposed gave town council final say at the end of each of its four public engagement steps but kept them off the advisory group. The majority of councillors, however, didn’t believe this was enough input.

Councillor Susan Flowers initially requested two members of council and the mayor be added to the committee. She expressed disappointment with the original recommendation and said it was a committee she wanted to be active on and had discussed extensively during her election campaign.

Fellow councillor Alex Reed repeatedly objected to having councillors on the committee. He says he recognized every councillor has a vested interest in how these lands are utilized and understands why they are interested in being on the committee but believes the aim is to get input from the community.

“I think we should let the public consultation take its process,” said Reed.

In the end, Marni Fedeyko, Tara McFadden and Mayor Jeff Genung joined Flowers in repackaging the committee. Reed and Patrick Wilson stood opposed while Morgan Nagel was absent.

Genung said he changed his mind at the end of the discussion.

“I was fine with what was proposed, but council seemed adamant that they want to be involved. It is a big issue, it is a big deal, so if they want to be involved why would I stand in the way of that?”

He does, however, believe there should never be more than one councillor on any of these committees so council does not unduly taint what is meant to be the community’s voice.

Whether it has been the creation of a task force for transit or creating the new recreation and culture board, exactly how many councillors should be included has been agonized over.

In the case of the transit task force, two councils and the mayor were added to the committee, much to the disappointment of Mayor Jeff Genung. Then it took an extensive conversation to keep council’s representation on the parks and recreation board to just one member.

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Framework Established to Determine Future Use of Downtown Land