The Aura of Aurora

Is being besmirched except that the community has few illusions about the last two and a half years of our political affairs.

Still some things are sufficiently convoluted to make their meaning less than clear.

The Mayor's quote in a Star story this morning is a classic example.

The minutes of an infamous meeting when an individual made a series of false accusations against a member of council, courtesy of the Mayor, when presented to the May 26th meeting for approval were not a true record .

They were challenged by Councillor Collins Mrakas. A resolution was put forward for the minutes to be reviewed. Mayor Morris directed the CAO to respond to the Councillor's concern.

Chief Administrative Officer Neil Garbe stated he and Mr. Cooper , town solicitor had met for an hour to discuss how to handle the minutes. With the resultant vote, the Mayor declared the Councillor's motion defeated.

It all sound so rational.

Except it's not. The Municipal Clerk is legally responsible for maintaining public records.There is no room for discussion about how Council decisions will be recorded. The record is the record.

A motion was presented to permit fallacious accusations against a Councillor to be part of the public record.

On a point of order, the requirement to waive rules of procedure to allow that to happen was noted.

The mayor entertained a vote to waive the rules.Approval was declared.

On a further point of order, it was noted the motion requires two-thirds majority. Five votes to three do not two-thirds make.

The mayor ruled it did.

The subsequent minutes bore no record of the wild and reckless allegations made by a member of a town sub-committee who has as yet failed to provide a public accounting of funds raised by public solicitation, under the auspices of the municipality. for a public event.

Council's direction to include the party's accusations in the public record was not followed.

No prompting by the mayor, no conferencing between Senior Staff changes the fact, the public record of the May 12th meeting are not accurate.

A decison was made in full view of the public at large, courtesy of Rogers Cable T.V. and not followed through.

I attribute the fiasco to combined inexperience of the CAO and town solicitor. It was a clear and astounding demonstration of a failure to understand the significance of the role of the Municipal Clerk and the requirement to defer to the statutory responsibilities of that office.

It is a criminal offence to mess with public records.

Every meeting of Aurora Council is pre-orchestrated. Staff are briefed beforehand as to questions the Mayor will ask and answers they will provide. Directors' report are vetted before
presentation to Council and changed if the Mayor so orders.

If Staff read the Star story this morning about how responsibility for "vouching" the minutes became theirs, they will undoubtedly better understand, if they have not so far, their true role in the Mor-Mac administration.