The City of Mission is reviewing how we share statutory public notices that are required by provincial legislation. Examples of these types of statutory communications include notice of public hearings, elections, land disposition, rezoning, and more. See them on our website at mission.ca/notices.
The goal of this review is to better understand how the City can make public notices more accessible for residents by understanding how they prefer to receive statutory communication.
Background
The Community Charter and Local Government Act require local governments to provide advance public notice of matters of public interest. Public notice is required to facilitate transparency and accountability and is part of the public engagement process. These official notices inform the community of opportunities to participate in local government decision-making and share their views.
What we do now
The City currently publishes statutory public notices in two places:
- at least once each week for 2 consecutive weeks in the Mission City Record, and
- on mission.ca and in the lobby of City Hall
NOTE: Since the Record is published on Fridays, that means that notices are published on average 10 days before the meeting, and a second time three days before the meeting under the current default approach.
We often use our other channels, such as City of Mission social media, City Updates newsletter, and digital billboards, as “unofficial notice" for larger initiatives.
However, under section 94.2 of the Community Charter, a local government may adopt a Public Notice Bylaw to allow for alternate means to post notice that meets the needs of the community. This means that statutory communication can be published by newspaper and other means, such as social media, City Updates newsletter, or another channel.
A Public Notice Bylaw
If a Council chooses to adopt a Public Notice Bylaw, the local government must then publish notice by all the methods specified in the bylaw. The notice provided by alternate means must be published, at least 7 days before the date of the matter for which the notice is required and for any prescribed time period set out in the legislation.
Many communities in BC who have developed their own Public Notice Bylaw have decided that a combination of print newspaper and notice on a digital platform, such as social media or city newsletter, ensures that their municipal public notices are reaching a diverse audience and that residents can view the notice multiple times from multiple sources.
NOTE: Under a new combination approach, a notice published in the newspaper will still appear on average 10 days before the meeting. It will also appear on another channel, such as social media or City Updates newsletter, for example.
Share your thoughts
How do you want to receive public notices? We invite you to share your experience and suggestions for statutory public notices from the City of Mission. The short survey below takes about 2-5 minutes to complete.
Collection Notice
Personal information collected in this survey is collected for the purpose of better understanding the views of community members on the statutory public notices from the City of Mission. The City of Mission is collecting this information under the authority of section 26(c) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA). Questions about the collection, use and disclosure of information can be directed to the City of Mission c/o Legislative Services Division, 8645 Stave Lake Street, Mission, BC V2V 4L0 or 604-820-3700 or to foi@mission.ca.