While out having conversations with the public, one recurring question that I’ve been asked is “How does a member of the public follow along with Council?”
It’s quite simple. The town uses software called Diligent for our Council meeting agenda’s and it’s posted publicly to the Council portal website: https://coalhurst.diligent.community/Portal/
From the main page, if you click on meetings it takes you to a list of all the Council and committee meetings. From there you can select a meeting of your choice.
I’ll use September 16th as an example as it was the last meeting we had.
The main meeting page: https://coalhurst.diligent.community/Portal/MeetingInformation.aspx?Id=370, has an outline of the agenda and you can click on the different files to see the information that’s given to Council. Some information is listed as close session information, this is typically would be something that’s held confidential because it has land, legal, or financial impacts.
Typically the meeting would follow the agenda and Council would work through the items presented. When we have a RFD, Request for Decision, we would have an information package provided that speaks to the background, information, and impacts the decision would have. Often there’s a recommendation from administration or a committee with a preferred outcome. However, it’s up to Council to decide how to proceed.
Now that we can follow along with the agenda package, we can look at the town’s Youtube channel to see live streams of the council meetings.
Every once in a while a Councillor will make a motion that might be influenced by conversation during a meeting, that had not been brought to council via the RFD process. Typically these motions would be a bit on the lighter side of what’s being requested as Council would prefer an RFD for more impactful decisions.
In the case of our last meeting, I had considered the information being provided by the RFD from the Community Housing Advisory Committee with regards to the Housing Accelerator Fund, and had thought in this instance a more holistic conversation on housing in Coalhurst needed to be had. I had put forward a motion asking for a Committee of the Whole meeting during the first quarter of 2026 to be dedicated to talking about housing in Coalhurst.
To see how the deviation came up in the meeting, click on the link to the YouTube recording of the Council Meeting:
https://www.youtube.com/live/RKtB-Au-bh4?si=NmP1b8jmsn3OUB0i&t=4033
As you can see it’s easy to access the information and see the discussions that are being held. I think it’s wonderful that residents want to be engaged and aware of what is going on with the decisions that Council is making. This post provides clarity on where to find the information and agendas that council uses to make their decisions.