The city of Port Alberni will hold its first committee of the whole meeting on Monday, Oct. 16.
Committee of the whole meetings are meetings that proceed as dicussion without decisions. There will be more opportunity for dialogue and engagement with the public.
City council agreed to pursue this meeting format back in February, after Councillor Sharie Minions brought the idea to a Jan. 23 meeting of council.
The topic of discussion this Monday will be around business licenses.
Concern around business license fees was first brought to council in February, when Bill Collette and Jan Lavertu of the Chamber of Commerce asked for the fees to be put into a separate account.
The fees are currently collected by the City of Port Alberni and go into general revenue. Collette and Lavertu would like the tax, as a business tax, to be earmarked for business improvement projects.
The meeting will take place at 4 p.m. in city hall council chambers. The public is welcome to attend.