Starting this fall there will be meeting schedule changes for RMWB council meetings. The schedule changes have been made in an attempt to cut out long nights for council members and streamline the business that the council handles. Last Tuesday the council passed a new standing committees bylaw, and this is a replacement for the all-councilor audit & budget committee. The change means that the RMWB can allow a weekly meeting schedule instead of what was used in the past. According to Fort MacMurray Mayor Melissa Blake “I think efficiencies are what we’re striving for. Sometimes you would see information and have it repeated a week later … This is going to streamline a lot of that.”

Before the meeting schedule changes the RMWB council meetings have been held on a biweekly basis, with alternate weeks being used for audit and budget committee meetings and administrative briefings. Mayor Blake explained “There would still be a potential need for in-camera sessions, but we would always identify those to the public. If we do that, we’ll do it preceding a council meeting.” In recent months some of the RMWB council meetings have been cut off when a vote to extend the meeting past 10 pm did not pass. The hope is that more frequent meetings every week could resolve the late night issue and help the council take care of more business by eliminating duplication. The new process also involves 6 committees of 3 council members each. These committees are oversight and selection, audit, rural, sustainable development, council recommendations, and land planning and transportation.