LABRADOR WEST, N.L.
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
CANADA
The residents of Labrador City will be the personally involved in deciding how to spend town money in the town’s next annual budget.
The plan for a ‘participatory’ budget was unveiled at a public meeting on Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 29.
At that meeting, Mayor Wayne Button explained that in the participatory budget process, residents will offer up projects or program ideas they think the town should finance.
The town has budgeted $100,000 for the project. Mayor Wayne Button credits newly-appointed Chief Administrative Officer Cathy Etsell for coming up with the plan for a new approach to deciding the town budget.
“Full details will be available soon on social media, and you can drop by the town hall or arena, plus there will be public information passed out at strategic locations in the community,” Etsell told members of the public attending the meeting.
Ideas offered up by residents will go before an evaluation committee, comprised of members of the community. They will decide the projects that are up for consideration. Then it will be up to residents to decide which projects will be approved for funding.
“We tried other ideas in the past but never got a lot of response, hopefully this will gather more interest,” Button told the Aurora.
New town clerk
The second matter of business for Wednesday’s meeting was the approval of hiring a new town clerk. The position was awarded to Kim Conway, who received a rousing round of applause from the council and staff as well as members of the public.
Conway has been an employee of the town for 26 years and told those in attendance she looks forward to her new position.
She fills the role previously held by Cathy Etsell, who was recently appointed Chief Administrative Officer.
Following the announcements, several council members told the Aurora they would really like people to think long and hard about projects and programs, as it’s an opportunity for people to have a say in what happens in their town.
