Residents question Bury council during monthly meeting
By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
Marked by active participation and candid discussions, residents of Bury raised numerous questions and concerns during the public question periods of the council meeting held July 2. Held at the Armoury Community Centre, the meeting provided a platform for residents to address various issues directly with council members, emphasizing the community’s engagement and the council’s accountability.
Opening and adoption of minutes
Presided over by Mayor Denis Savage, the gathering began promptly at 7:30 p.m. with the council adopting the agenda for the day. Following this, the minutes from the extraordinary meetings held on May 21 and June 3 were approved. These minutes included corrections related to human rights compliance.
The first question period kicked off with a flurry of inquiries from residents, reflecting a range of concerns and interests.
Tent purchases and usage
One of the initial questions centered on the municipality’s acquisition and use of tents intended for market creation.
A resident asked, “What happened to the first tent you bought with the intention of creating a market space? And what about the mini-tents purchased later with the same intention?”
The council responded by detailing the current status and future plans for the tents. “We bought pop-up tents last year,” explained a council member. “We’ll use them for various events. For the public market now, we’re using a fixed tent. If we see less need for the pop-up tents, we might put them up for sale. We initially had twelve tents in total—two large ones and ten smaller ones.”
This response led to further clarification about the old tents. The council mentioned that they attempted to sell the older tents during a recent auction, but there were no bids. “We announced the sale at the auction last week, but there were no offers. We’ll re-announce it,” a council member stated.
