Paradise council updates e-mail voting policy

By Chris Lewis/September 9, 2021

Councillors in the Town of Paradise approved some changes on Tuesday for the way they conduct e-mail votes between public council meetings.

The policy to allow e-mail voting was approved in 2017 to enable council to make decisions on urgent matters that had to be decided before the regular bi-weekly meetings.

Deputy Mayor Elizabeth Laurie said the policy proved to be quite useful, especially during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic as council maneuvered around the rapidly changing work environment of the time.

However, town policies are reviewed and updated regularly, and the one for e-mail voting is one of them, she said.

Laurie said the policy has been updated to clarify that once all responses to a poll are received, the results will be summarized and communicated to each member of council.

“All decisions made through an e-mail poll are official, and votes cannot be changed once the poll is closed and the results have been communicated,” Laurie said. “As always, these decisions will be ratified at the following (public) council meeting to ensure accountability and transparency.”

Laurie said the change does not come with any financial implications, and is more about the specifications of the policy as the Town continues to strive for openness and transparency.

The updates to the policy were met with a unanimous vote of approval.