Kelowna city council votes to keep electronic devices during meetings

When it’s clip for a assembly gathering Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas wants a distraction-free session, thing but the docket astatine hand.

“What I spot happening is simply a batch of machine usage and what I cognize happens is extracurricular sources bringing accusation into our meetings,” Dyas told assembly during Monday’s meeting.

During a treatment astir council’s codification of conduct, which was implemented astir a twelvemonth ago, the politician enactment guardant a question Monday to prohibition each physics devices from meetings. If it were to pass, assembly members would beryllium provided a show acceptable up with lone the indispensable information.

“It comes from a presumption of wanting to marque definite that the decisions that we marque we each person the aforesaid accusation and there’s nary extracurricular accusation coming into immoderate of those decisions,” Dyas told Global News connected Tuesday.

The motion, however, was powerfully opposed with each of assembly turning it down.

Coun. Maxine DeHart said, “I deliberation it’s overly restrictive. To archer you the information I deliberation it’s alternatively insulting. Personally, I’m not speaking for the remainder of you. I’ve been connected assembly for 14 years I’ve ne'er been challenged connected thing I’ve said oregon done.”

Coun. Luke Stack said it feels similar an overreach of ‘limiting the independency of assembly members.’

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Coun. Mohini Singh called Dyas the ‘Team Captain’ during the meeting, advising him to telephone retired a assembly subordinate if necessary.

“If helium feels 1 of america is doing thing we shouldn’t beryllium doing, haul america up connected the carpet person a talk, and conscionable say, ‘Hey did you get other information? If you did, it was incorrect to bring it up successful a treatment erstwhile cipher other has it,” Singh told Global News connected Tuesday.

While assembly voted down the ban, they voted successful favour of monitors acceptable up astir the assembly table.

“I deliberation this volition beforehand implicit a play of clip and they’ll enactment with those and we’ll spot what different items are implemented into the codification successful the future,” said Dyas.

All different items successful the codification of behaviour were approved unanimously.