RED ROCK — The floor is open to residents of Red Rock.
The township of Red Rock has announced an upcoming special town hall meeting to be held on Wednesday, July 24 at 6:00 pm, where residents will get the chance to have their questions and concerns answered directly by Mayor Darquise Robinson, CAO Mark Filgiomeni, and town council.
The meeting will be hosted at the Red Rock Legion Branch 226.
Speaking with Dougall Media, Figliomeni said this will be the first open town hall of its kind in over three years in Red Rock.
“It’s something we haven’t done in a while. Pre-COVID they did exist but they haven’t existed during my time in Red Rock. This is a request of council to be able to have the public attend,” he said.
He also dug into the reasons why residents’ questions must be submitted ahead of time.
“We’ve structured the meeting to the point that it doesn’t turn into a bear pit, for example, where you’re just getting random questions off the floor.
“We’re trying to give enough time – we’ve put it out there, requesting questions – so that, hopefully, we can provide transparency and be able to answer those questions that residents of Red Rock have.
“We can do our best to answer them in that type of setting,” Figliomeni said.
He made a comparison between the open town hall meeting and residents requesting delegations to council, saying the meeting is a bit more structured but allows for multiple perspectives whereas delegations are delivered on an individual basis.
He also said council was keen to hear from residents.
“It’s something that council has put a priority on and actually identified it as something we should do more of in Red Rock,” he said.
Figliomeni said it’s all about community involvement and, while he couldn’t entirely speculate, he alluded to possible questions relating to taxes, proposed developments in the community by Bruno’s Contracting, and ongoing projects with the BMI Group, RockTech Lithium, and the Red Rock Indian Band.
“It’s transparency, it’s trying to answer the questions – not trying to be that community that doesn’t at least try to answer the questions. I’m sure there will be some tough questions and, again, we’ll do our best to address them,” he said.
Residents can submit questions online at https://forms.office.com/r/E52fWDC6zk or pickup hard copies of the form at the Municipal Office, Red Rock Public Library, Northern Credit Union, or Saunders Foodland.
Questions must be submitted to the Municipal Office no later than July 18 at 4:00 p.m.
