Public delegations will no longer be speaking at Regina city council meetings

Regina city council will no longer hear oral presentations from the public at city council meetings, starting in January.

Council has decided that, in an attempt to keep council meetings from running too long,all presentations from the public will be heard at executive committee meetings, rather than at city council itself.

"I think it's the length of the meetings and duplication of what everyone is hearing," said Mayor Sandra Masters, speaking to CBC Radio's The Morning Edition.

"We were having delegations go before committees and then come before council. [If] executive [committee]hears everything ... you've eliminated a little bit of that duplication."

Masters said there will be exceptions. If councillors on the executive committee agree that delegations should be heard at the city council meeting, they would be allowed to make presentations.

Members of the public will also be allowed to make written presentations to city council meetings.

Masters noted that other cities, like Calgary, have brought in similar measures to streamline council business.

While she acknowledged there had been no public discussion on the issue, she said people could come forward with objections if they wanted.

"We look at this every year and there's nothing saying that we can't change it," she said.

"If there's a public outcry about it, it absolutely can be repealed."

The issue was part of a larger package laying out the calendar for council meetings in 2022.

Two city committees, community wellness and community services, will be broken upand their roles will be merged into executive committee.

While the motion initially suggested that council meetings start at 9 a.m. CST, Coun. Landon Mohl successfully made an amendment to that policy, keeping the start time at 1 p.m. CST.

Coun. Daniel LeBlancproposed another amendementthat would have allowedcouncillors to raise a point of order if they believed a fellow councillor made disrespectful comments to city administration. LeBlanc's amendmentfailed.

The new changes will begin in January.