Bill Veenhof would like to see at least some meetings of the Regional District of Nanaimo held in the rural areas, instead of at the main board office in Nanaimo.
To this end, the RDN director for Bowser-Deep Bay presented his colleagues with a proposal in October to hold Electoral Area Planning Committee meetings in each rural area once annually.
Staff’s response suggested the move would cost approximately $1,460 per meeting, for a total of $8,760 per year. It could well prove disruptive to the flow of development applications, resulting in delays. Instead, the staff report floated the idea of having other forms of meetings in the rural areas, such as what they called Dialogue with a Director, a very informal coffee shop-style discussions with community members, or open houses which are somewhat more formal.
Directors voted to include $10,000 in the budget for rural area meetings, although what form they will take remains to be determined.
