Council Meetings

Agendas

The agenda is also posted on the bulletin board of the Municipal Office, and hard copies of the agenda are provided at the meeting or can be requested at Municipal Hall at no charge. Hard copies of council meeting packages can be requested.

Previous agendas, meeting packages and minutes are all available online on the NRRM public information portal site.

Conduct 

All regular council meetings are open to the public. No one will be excluded from attending except in the case of improper conduct. The rules of conduct for council meetings are outlined in the Regional Council Procedure Bylaw and Robert's Rules of Order.

View a council meeting

Broadcast: All Regular Regional Council Meetings are broadcast via Zoom video-conferencing. Instructions for participating in a virtual council meeting are available online on the NRRM public information portal site.

Recorded: Recorded Regular/Special Regional Council meetings are usually available a day or two after the meeting. Please note that only meetings held after February 10, 2020 are available since that is when the Northern Rockies began recording meetings. View them in either of two ways:

1. the NRRM public information portal site or
2. the NRRM YouTube channel at NorthernRockies.ca/CouncilCast

Minutes

Regularly-scheduled regional council meetings

Regional Council meetings are scheduled for the calendar year in advance, and the schedule is advertised as well as posted to the municipal website. These meetings are often referred to as "regular" Regional Council meetings.

Special meetings

According to the Community Charter, the mayor or two council members can convene a special meeting of council if an important issue arises that council needs to consider.

Closed (in camera) meetings 

Closed meetings are usually referred to as in camera meetings and are not open to the public. Council may only hold in camera meetings under the circumstances set out in Section 90 of the Community Charter such as for matters pertaining to personnel, land, labour or employee negotiations, law enforcement, litigation or potential litigation and information prohibited from disclosure pursuant to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Public hearings

At a public hearing, members of the public can express comments or concerns in person or in writing to Council about the proposed bylaw. Public Hearings take place after the first and second readings but before third reading of a bylaw.

By making their views known before the adoption of land use bylaws, residents and other interested parties play an important role in deciding how the community develops.

Speaking at council meetings

If you are interested in making a presentation to Regional Council please check out our Delegations - Speaking at council meetings page.

Bylaw creation

Council exercises its powers through bylaws and resolutions.

• For a bylaw to come into force it must be given three readings by Council and then be adopted.
• A bylaw may be given up to three readings at one Council meeting, however that is not the case for all bylaws.
• There must be at least one day between the third reading and the adoption of a bylaw.
• Some bylaws require further approval, for example the approval of a minister, before they are adopted.
• A bylaw can only be amended or rescinded by another bylaw.

Some bylaws, about decisions on how land will be used or developed, require public hearings.