Communicating with Council

The Municipality of Trent Lakes is committed to open and accessible government. Council encourages public participation in the decision-making process.

Speaking at Council meetings

If you would like to speak at a Council meeting, contact the Clerk at least 11 days before the meeting. You must include the reason for your delegation and any background information that you'd like included on the agenda.

A person can also request to speak to a specific item on a posted agenda by contacting the Clerk before 12:00 p.m. at least three business days before the meeting. For example, you would need to inform the Clerk on Friday at 12:00 p.m. if you'd like to speak at a meeting held on Tuesday.

If you would like to present electronically, please let the Clerk know.

Delegation guidelines

Make sure to follow these guidelines when speaking before Council as a delegation:

The subject must be within municipal jurisdiction
You cannot be promote products or services
The subject cannot contain obscene or defamatory content
You will have a maximum of ten minutes
You cannot present to Council on the same subject within a six month period
Only two speakers will be allowed
You cannot present to Council if there has been a Public Meeting on the subject within a six month period

Rules of conduct for delegations are outlined in the Municipality's Procedural By-law.

Tips for delegating to Council

Here are some additional tips you can follow:

Highlight your key points
Provide additional information to the Clerk before the meeting for Council to review
Be specific about what you are asking for
Address Council through the Chair (Mayor)
The Chair may be addressed as Mayor Lambshead

Delegations during COVID-19

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Municipality of Trent Lakes is holding meetings electronically via GoToWebinar.

Before the meeting, the Clerk will give you the webinar details. At the meeting, when it is your time to speak, we will promote you within the webinar to be able to unmute your microphone and share your webcam. If you need any help with electronic participation, contact the Clerk before the meeting. We can give you more information or set up a test webinar.

If you can only attend via telephone, please contact the Clerk before the meeting. We can help you to make the necessary arrangements.

Call or email Council

A delegation is not the only way to reach Council members and let them know how you feel about an issue. You can telephone or email your interests or concerns directly to Council. This allows you to provide much more detailed information for reference.

Provide written comments

You are also welcome to provide written comments to the Clerk's Office. All correspondence should be addressed to “Mayor and Members of Council”. Correspondence received before 4:30 p.m. 11 calendar days before a Council meeting will be considered for placement on that agenda.

If an email or letter is received and also was circulated to all members of Council, it will not be placed on an agenda. This eliminates the duplication of items received by members of Council. Any member of Council may request to have an email or letter they receive placed on an agenda for discussion.

Letters containing profanity will not be circulated or placed on an agenda.

Personal information

When reaching out to Council, don't include personal information in the correspondence if you don't want this information to be public. We will not provide anonymous correspondence to Council.

The Municipality of Trent Lakes collects personal information in your communications to Council or its Committees under the Municipal Act, 2001. We collect this information to enable Council and/or its Committees to make informed decisions on the relevant matter. Individuals who make submissions to Council should be aware that any personal information in their communications may become part of the public record and may be made available to the public through the agenda process which includes publication on the Municipality's website.

Council meetings

All Regular and Special Council meetings are livestreamed using GoToWebinar. To attend a meeting electronically, register for the meeting using the link in the agenda.

All Regular and some Special Council meetings are recorded and can be watched on the Municipality's YouTube channel.