Whitehorse considers email ban at city council meetings

Whitehorse City Council is considering banning councillors from sending and receiving email and other messages during its meetings.

It's one of several proposals for changing the city's procedures bylaw.

The public is invited to give its input at tonight's meeting.

"All of sudden you hear a little beep when an email comes in, and I hear every one of the iPads beep going down the line and I realized that we as council had just received an email," said Coun. John Streicker.

He said electronic messages may be banned because everything council hears at a meeting should be done in public.

Streicker said the changes are important.

Council will also consider holding its meetings earlier than the current 7:30 p.m. start.

"For some people it may seem like boring stuff, but it does affect how we conduct ourselves with the public and with each other, so it is actually a very important bylaw for us," he said.

The last council voted against starting its meetings earlier, but that's back on the table again because meetings have been running late.