Town of Barrhead residents had an opportunity to question coucillors and discuss any topics or concerns during the first ever ‘Coffee with Council’ at the Charles Godberson Rotary Room Feb. 28.
In addition to councillors, the heads of the majority of the town’s departments as well as fire chief John Whittaker, Barrhead RCMP Sgt. Bob Dodds and Barrhead’s peace officer Brandon Johnson were also in attendance.
“I am really impressed about the turn out and the variety of questions,” said Coun. Leslie Penny, adding she had inquiries about bylaws, zoning, to procedures. “More specifically what happened after town staff or a councillor received a complaint or concern.
She added while she was glad to be able to answer constituents questions and talk about their concerns, she hoped what people took away from the event is that councillors are approachable.
“Sometimes people are intimidated to go to the municipal office, to ask a question or file a complaint. I think a lot of the reasoning behind that is that they don’t understand the process so they decide just not to do it. However, they can always pick up the phone and call a councillor who will forward their concern,” she said, noting when this happens she does this through the town’s chief operating officer Martin Taylor.
Penny said she does it this way because she doesn’t want to be seen as skirting procedure and that she doesn’t always know who is best to deal with the resident’s concern. She then follows up with Taylor to see what action has been done and relays it to the resident.
Coun. Dausen Kluin said he also talked to a number of residents on a wide variety of concerns. Some of the more prominent issues that stuck out in his mind were transportation, development, sidewalks and the need for another controlled pedestrian crossing on the north end of town.
“Bylaws was another area people had a lot of questions about, but I am new and still learning about much of this. It was just nice to be able to get a chance to talk to residents at an event like this and I’m glad that there was such a good turn out,” he said, suggesting the town should host the event on a biannually.
Dodds said he was surprised that he did not receive a lot of questions.
“It was more of a meet and greet where I just got a chance to talk to people which is something I don’t always get to do. It was really nice,” he said.
Mayor Dave McKenzie agreed with Dodds saying there did not seem to be one specific theme or concern from the people he talked to.
“Crime and traffic flow are always topics that come up at things like this, but really there wasn’t any overwhelming concern or want,” he said. “There was just a lot of good dialogs and conversations happening, not only with us and our staff, but with each other and that is what you want to happen to have clear and open communication.”
