by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Oct 10/97) - Secret meetings may soon be a thing of the past.

Incumbent aldermen and those hoping to win a place on the new council are almost perfectly divided on the issue of secret meetings, and the challengers outnumber the incumbents 16-2.

Wednesday evening, at the second of two Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce aldermanic forums, incumbents Blake Lyons and Merlyn Williams said council needed the weekly secret meetings with administration to make informed decisions.

Challenger Dan Hayward agreed, reasoning, "I would have certain things I would like to ask administration, and I think a briefing behind closed doors would be the best place to ask."

That support was heavily outweighed by the criticism of the practice from the rest of the panel.

"If any of the candidates in this election are uncomfortable with matters being discussed in public, they shouldn't be running for public office," said Peggy Near.

"I would like to close the door on secret meetings," said Dave Ramsay.

"If we eliminate secret meetings," reasoned John Best, "the information available to council would go to the general public and council would be held more accountable."

Candidate Mike Bryant said council should not try to hide its imperfections behind closed doors.

"We're all human, even politicians," said Bryant. "I think its okay for people to see politicians make mistakes."

Of the first set of candidates to take the stage, only one, Ben McDonald, expressed support for the meetings, which began two terms ago under then-mayor Pat MacMahon.

Wednesday night, a couple of council matters were raised that the public had little opportunity to comment on.

One resident criticized the decision to produce Skyline, a city-produced newsletter. The current council began producing the letter, at a cost of $30,000 annually, two years ago.

"It is my opinion that this is a gross waste of taxpayers money," said Lorne McKiel. "All the information in it appears either in the local newspaper or in the city's recreation guide."

Lyons and Williams were the only two candidates who said they would not eliminate Skyline.

Proposing that more city hall business should be done locally, Peggy Near noted the present council overlooked local business on one glaring occasion.

"Why, when we have several competent graphic design businesses here in Yellowknife, did a subsidiary of BCTel get the contract to produce the web site?" asked Near.

Trevor Kasteel, a member of the present council who is not running for re-election, later tried to defend the web site decision.

"At that point, for the type of web site we wanted, we couldn't get it in Yellowknife -- that's what administration told me and that's why we didn't go locally."

The chamber's mayoral forum will take place Oct. 15 at NACC at 7:30 p.m.