Delta City Council holds its first regular meeting on November 16

Delta City Council's first regular meeting under Mayor Melissa Granum is scheduled for Monday, November 16, at 7 p.m. at the North Delta Centre for the Arts, 11425 84th Avenue, according to the North Delta Reporter. The new council was sworn in on November 2 and has listed 14 specific actions it says it will start in its first 90 days.

Who sits on council

Mayor Granum ran with Delta First, as did councillors Alexander Fischer, Tammy Hansen and Jat Puri. Delta First holds four of the seven seats, giving it a majority. Councillors Sylvia Bishop and Daniel Boisvert ran with One Delta. Councillor Alicia Guichon ran with Achieving for Delta. All seven were sworn in on November 2 at a ceremony where Justice Tina Dion administered the oaths, as the North Delta Reporter reported.

What the council committed to do

Delta First published its First 90 Days plan before the election and the new council announced at its November 2 inaugural meeting that it would follow it, as the North Delta Reporter reported. All items below are the party's own account of what it pledged: no council vote has yet taken place on any of them.

The plan groups its commitments into three areas.

Accountability covers four actions. The council says it will develop an enforceable code of conduct for elected officials with independent oversight; end block voting, in which all members of a slate vote together on every item; restore the public question period at council meetings, which the outgoing council had removed; and repeal a practice that let city management approve development permits and variances without a council vote. The last of these changes who signs off on building decisions: under the current practice, city staff decide, with no council vote. Delta First says it will return that power to elected councillors.

The question period restoration is tracked at #promise-restore-question-period. The code of conduct is tracked at #promise-council-code-of-conduct.

Liveability covers six actions. The council says it will: open a public review of Delta's Official Community Plan with sessions in Ladner, Tsawwassen and North Delta; examine the Ladner Village revitalization strategy; re-establish citizen advisory committees in five areas (traffic safety and transportation, art, history and culture, sports, recreation and parks, environment and urban planning, and agriculture and food security); commission a legal analysis of provincial development legislation; create tree protection bylaws; and assess police and fire resources against population growth.

Delta's Official Community Plan is the city's guide to land use, density and development. It sets out what can be built where across Ladner, Tsawwassen and North Delta. A review would let residents say how they want each neighbourhood to grow before the plan is updated. The outgoing council had eliminated citizen advisory committees, which had given residents a formal way to give advice on specific topics between elections.

The OCP review is tracked at #promise-ocp-public-review. The advisory committees are tracked at #promise-citizen-advisory-committees.

Affordability covers four actions. The council says it will: launch a zero-based budget review of all city departments and of council's own budget; establish transparent budget reporting; create a strategy for non-market and affordable housing supply; and examine city funding of external organizations that lobby on the city's behalf. Under a zero-based budget review, every spending line must be justified from the beginning each year. The current practice carries forward last year's budget as the starting point.

The budget review is tracked at #promise-review-city-spending-public-reporting.

What the mayor said at inauguration

Mayor Granum told the North Delta Reporter at the November 2 swearing-in that the new council would bring "compassion and a determination to work together." She said "a healthy council should challenge ideas, ask difficult questions, and bring different perspectives to the table." She thanked outgoing Mayor George Harvie and the departing councillors for their service.

The Board of Education

The seven trustees of the Delta Board of Education (School District 37) held their inaugural meeting on November 3. Their first regular meeting of the new term is December 8, 2026, at 7 p.m. at the School Board Office, 4585 Harvest Drive, Delta, according to the Delta School District's published meeting schedule at deltasd.bc.ca. The district's website lists Joe Muego as Board Chairperson. All board meetings include a 30-minute public question period, and individuals may ask one question with one follow-up.

What residents can do

The November 16 council meeting is open to the public. The agenda will be posted on the Monday before the meeting, available at delta.ca/city-hall/delta-council. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the North Delta Centre for the Arts, 11425 84th Avenue.

If the council restores the public question period as it has pledged, residents will be able to ask questions directly at the meeting. The promise tracker for Delta will be updated each time the council acts on one of its commitments.