Summary#

On September 16, 2026, Edmonton’s Council Services Committee directed City staff to prepare the 2027 Council and Committee calendar using option 2. The committee also directed staff to report on options for setting a closing time for public-speaker registration; these decisions do not yet set the final calendar or change registration rules.

• Option 2 changes the order of the main standing committees: Executive Committee would meet on Mondays and Community and Public Services Committee on Wednesdays. Public hearings would remain one-day meetings and be scheduled mid-week where possible.
• City staff must report on registration-closing options, including a comparison with other municipalities, by the first quarter of 2027 to Council Services Committee.
• Attachment 5, which contains external organizations’ confirmed or tentative event dates, remains private under the cited law provision on harm to a third party’s business interests. Both motions carried 13 to 0.

What it means for you#

• People who speak at meetings: The committee did not set a registration deadline. It asked City staff to study options for a specified closing time for registration at all Council and Committee meetings.
• People following the 2027 meeting schedule: City staff must prepare a draft based on option 2. Council is expected to consider the final calendar at its October 27, 2026, organizational meeting; this committee decision did not approve the final dates.
• People seeking external event dates: Attachment 5 remains private. The decision does not change other public access to meeting calendars.

Money#

No cost information is provided in the materials.

• City staff must prepare the calendar and the registration-options report, but no staffing or cost estimate is given.

What is unclear#

• The actual dates, times and locations in the 2027 calendar are not included in the supplied material.
• The committee did not decide whether, or when, public-speaker registration should close.
• The materials do not explain when Attachment 5 might become public, if at all.

Case for#

• City staff say the calendar options use Council-approved scheduling principles and account for City operations, including financial reporting, public hearings and tax bylaws.
• Option 2 schedules public hearings mid-week where possible. City staff identify this as a way to reduce overtime for processing speaker registrations.
• Studying registration deadlines, with a comparison to other municipalities, could give the committee information before it considers any change.

Case against#

• The decision leaves the registration question unresolved. It requires a report, not a new deadline or a decision about how registration would work.
• Option 2 keeps public hearings to one day. The report’s option 3 would use two-day hearings, but would add Thursday and Friday meetings and extra recess days. The committee chose option 2 instead.