Changes in the advertising bylaw locally mean that residents will need to frequent the town’s website if they want to stay in-the-know

During Monday’s regular meeting on May 25, 2020, Administration provided Council with the updated version of Bylaw 1555, which deals with local advertising by the Town of Whitecourt. An amendment to the Municipal Government Act gives municipalities flexibility on which notification methods they used to communicate with residents. Before the change, municipalities had to advertise a bylaw, resolution, meeting, or public hearing through a newspaper or by mail to every residence.

To follow through on the change, Council had to meet specific requirements, one of which was to hold a public hearing. Held on March 9, 2020, the hearing produced two comments from the community. One individual expressed opposition and said that residents would find navigating the Whitecourt website difficult and that the website did not offer the transparency that paper media provided. Another comment came from a Woodlands County resident who expressed that not all County residents have internet and that the change could potentially impact residents.

“We are still utilizing both newspapers, and we are enhancing our advertising component with the use of our web page to provide additional information and better service, we think, for the residents of Whitecourt,” stated CAO Peter Smyl. Rather than see a full-page advertisement, which explains a bylaw change, new development, or upcoming meeting, residents will now receive minimum information through local newspapers with the intent to steer residents to the website to learn the full story.

“For example, if we are advertising for a town position, the ad might say that we are looking for a position for the Town of Whitecourt and direct them to the website. The website would have the job description and additional information that they might require. If you wanted to follow up on a development or retain more information on it, that info would be provided on the website,” he continued.

Councillor Hilts said that he supported the motion but said that he would like to revisit the topic in a year to make sure that the public is “getting the attention and the traffic that we’re looking for.” Councillor Connell agreed with his colleague. Mayor Chichak asked what options there would be for those without website access. “Those that don’t have internet, and perhaps rely on the papers, are they able to come in and pick up hard copies of the changes that are being made or the job applications?” Smyl said that they encourage anyone to come to the town office for hard copies.

However, due to COVID-19, the town office is currently closed to the public. Any residents who wish to receive hard copies of items that they cannot access through social media or quickly locate online would need to call ahead and speak to the office staff to make arrangements to pick up printed materials. On the flip side, a job posting or other posting listing would generally cost the Town of Whitecourt a minimal amount, and would be seen by thousands of residents, which seems a lot better use of resources than using the time of the office staff at the Town of Whitecourt, and of residents having to physically go to the Town Office to get printed notices.

In comparison to Whitecourt, both Hinton and Edson recently lost one of their newspapers (the Hinton Parklander and the Edson Leader) after Postmedia shut down in each community. However, both towns still have an active, printed media source (the Hinton Voice and the Edson Anchor) that feature full-page ads from the municipality. In the most recent edition of the Edson Anchor, the Town of Edson has a full-page, plus a quarter of a second page, in advertisements to keep residents informed, which is like what the Town of Whitecourt used to provide. Even though they advertise their website at the same time, the Town of Edson still provides much more information to residents through the newspaper than Whitecourt now does. Drayton Valley Council also utilizes local print media with full pages. To read an editorial on why many people feel that using local media sources, such as newspapers, is integral to a healthy democracy, and why municipal governments should continue to provide residents with information through those sources.