Councillors Phil Turnbull and Darren Hirsch

By Hayley Ferguson

Open Forum

Councillors team up to host town hall meeting

Nov 25, 2019 | 5:05 PM

Medicine Hat, AB – Councillor Phil Turnbull will be hosting his third annual town hall meeting this Wednesday.

“I’ve always believed that as a city, we don’t communicate enough with our citizens. And I made a pledge in 2017 during the election that I would try and have as many town hall meetings as I can,” he said. “It’s to address any of our citizens’ concerns or information that they maybe have, but it’s not correct or enough for them to make an informed decision as to the way our city should go.”

This year he will be joined by his fellow councillor, Darren Hirsch.

“He has a good pulse on city hall. So I’m looking forward to it and hearing what he has to say as well,” Turnbull said.

Hirsch said he wanted to join in on the meeting after hearing about how past meetings Turnbull hosted had gone.

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“Quite frankly I was excited about the prospect and I’m really looking forward to it. So it’s a great opportunity to connect with the public,” Hirsch smiled.

The meeting will not have an agenda, instead, it will focus on what the audience wants to talk about.

“We’re not politicians. We have no party affiliations. We can’t determine what the city is going forward only with, with one vote. What we want to do is hear from you,” Turnbull explained. “We want what are your neighbours telling you? What are your friends telling you? What is the trouble in the city you think we should react to? It’s not about who’s right and who’s wrong. Let us hear what you have to say.”

Turnbull and Hirsch are hopeful that these meetings will create a more open way for residents to have their voices heard.

“For the most part the challenge that we’re running into is anytime we get greater then five members of council coming, it’s actually a council meeting. But we’re trying to avoid that obviously. That’s not the intent of the meeting,” Hirsch continued. “I think the idea of a couple of us reaching out is one to just get a different perspective. Everyone has an individual vote. We are not party-based so everyone has an individual perspective and it’s kind of neat to get a certain perspective.”

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and will be held Medicine Hat College in room S159.