Council Agendas Online: A Missed Opportunity for Gull Lake

Residents deserve to see what’s coming — not just what’s already happened.

Council’s recent reply to my letter was brief: they’ve decided not to post meeting agendas online. While I appreciate the acknowledgment, the response leaves important questions unanswered—and the opportunity for greater transparency still stands.

Posting agendas alongside minutes isn’t just about convenience. It’s about helping residents understand what’s coming, not just what’s already happened. It’s about fostering trust, encouraging participation, and making local governance more accessible to everyone.

Before writing to Council, I conducted a small poll—20 local residents agreed they’d like to see agendas posted. That’s not a massive number, but in a town our size, it’s a meaningful signal. People care. They want to be informed. It would be difficult to imagine residents opposing more convenient access to public information. In fact, all 20 residents who commented on the Facebook post supported the idea, and none expressed opposition. That kind of response suggests a quiet consensus: people want to be informed.

As a former mayor, I spent years working closely with local and regional media and managing the town website blog. I know firsthand how important timely, accessible information is to residents. That level of information sharing took time and effort and ultimately was not sustainable for future councils, but at the time it made a difference.

Council currently meets the minimum requirements: posting minutes and holding open meetings. But times have changed—and so have the tools available to share information. Some meetings may not interest everyone, but agendas help residents decide for themselves. Imagine if the theater never posted its show list. If you showed up a few times and nothing appealed, you’d likely stop checking.

The administrator prepares the agenda in advance and shares it with councillors—or could easily do so if that isn’t already the practice. Posting that same draft publicly would be a simple next step. Any items that need to be discussed in‑camera are already identified before the meeting, so confidentiality is protected. A quick review of the town’s minutes shows that in‑camera sessions are relatively rare, which means the vast majority of agenda items are public business. In practice, there’s little standing in the way of making agendas available to residents ahead of time.

The goal of sharing information is to engage residents and invite their input. It won’t always be easy, and not everyone will agree, but feedback matters. My letter—and this editorial—is part of that feedback. It may not be welcomed, but it’s offered in good faith.

Steps Council Could Take

• ✅ Strike a committee to explore posting agendas online

• ✅ Attach public documents to agenda items when feasible

• ✅ Investigate options for broadcasting meetings

The Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner’s website offers this guidance:

“To support this accountability, municipalities can post the agendas of council and council committee meetings to their website. The benefits of municipalities making information available online are plain to see. First, it increases municipalities’ accountability to the citizenry. Second, it increases citizens’ active participation in civic life.”

We can join other communities in expanding access—and in doing so, strengthen Gull Lake’s reputation as a community that values openness, participation, and trust in local decision‑making.

Blake Campbell