Kelowna city council votes to keep electronic devices during meetings [Video]

When it’s time for a council meeting Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas wants a distraction-free session, nothing but the agenda at hand.

“What I see happening is a lot of computer usage and what I know happens is outside sources bringing information into our meetings,” Dyas told council during Monday’s meeting.

During a discussion about council’s code of conduct, which was implemented about a year ago, the mayor put forward a motion Monday to ban all electronic devices from meetings. If it were to pass, council members would be provided a monitor set up with only the necessary information.

“It comes from a position of wanting to make certain that the decisions that we make we all have the same information and there’s no outside information coming into any of those decisions,” Dyas told Global News on Tuesday.

The motion, however, was strongly opposed with all of council turning it down.

Coun. Maxine DeHart said, “I think it’s overly …