People filled the Garry Oak Room at Monterey Recreation Centre for the Oak Bay Watch town hall meeting to air community concerns Sept. 12.
Hosted by the community group, council members were not invited, but some did attend as members of the audience. Notes from the public conversation will be posted on the Oak Bay Watch website, said group member Mary Douglas, adding infrastructure and finances were key concerns.
Douglas led the meeting along with Oak Bay Watch member Anthony Mears and moderator John Treleaven, a Sidney resident and member of the Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria. The group is still sorting the notes and comment sheets returned by residents in attendance.
“We’ll just have future meetings and have experts in the field come an talk,” Douglas said. “We’ve come across so many people who want to help us.”
Another outcome could be a slew of new faces could come out at election time after prompting from former Oak Bay councillor John Herbert during the meeting. He urged those in attendance to run for council.
Douglas found the statement inspiring, and in line with the community group’s current push. They’re urging residents to attend council meetings and check agendas, generally get involved in the day-to-day of Oak Bay.
“If you hold meetings people come and share and then we figure out next steps,” she said, impressed with the turnout they estimage at 260 people. “Obviously that is what we are lacking or we wouldn’t have people leave their homes after hard working day.”
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