A Question Unanswered

On Sunday I half wished I was a candidate for Mayor.  I like to answer questions. Mayoralty candidates only had the opportunity. It's how it has to be. In a hundred different ways, the Office of Mayor is  most important. Voters  need to witness the  performance  in a given circumstance
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A question  was asked about  town business being conducted after midnight and at one o'clock in the morning, and  how that might be changed.

The procedural bylaw and the clause allowing  thirty-minutes for a Councillor to speak to a question was referenced by the Mayor  who speculated the  length of  meetings, if eight Councillors  took up that amount of time.

I would like  to have been able to speak about time spent by  staff and Council  on the Procedural bylaw. Last time, I checked  it was fifty-nine pages long.  It should be eighteen

The first and only order of  business on the Agenda on the Night of Council's Inaugural, is passage of the Procedural Bylaw.

Councillors-elect  may not take their seats  until they have sworn their Oath of Office.

The business of the corporation cannot proceed without passage of  the Bylaw for Procedure.  

The Procedural Bylaw sets out, the calender of meetings for the term . It states where they will be held. The hour of start and adjournment . Agendas  must be posted in advance  so that all may know the items of  town business  are to be decided .

The Bylaw  includes the Rules of Order .

It is legislated guarantee  to the community, to open, transparent and orderly governance.

It is the function of the Municipal Clerk to bring together the Agenda of  items of business  requiring Council's attention.

Public forum is not town business. Presenting awards is not . Announcements of events by Councillors is not. Presentations by invitation of the Mayor are not . Friends of the Mayor invited to heap abuse on the head of an elected representative who may be a critic of the Mayor, is not.

None of the foregoing are the" business of the municipality"

They are  misuse of  Council's  scheduled time to deal with  town business. 

Add- ons  to the agenda on the night of a meeting are not in order.  The Procedural Bylaw  requires publication of agendas  in advance. Except for emergency,and  by a vote of two-thirds of members present to waive the procedural bylaw, add-ons  are not  in order.

Endless  erratic and  frequently erroneous  ruminations by the presiding member in response to every issue that arises from wherever,  in  the course of a meeting, are  not in  accordance with rules of order.

Unlimited questions from Councillors to staff,  are not debate and are not  in accordance with the rules.

Appointed Officers directed by the presiding member to refute  debating points made by elected representatives are a  breach  of order and  misuse of time allocated for town business.

Interruptions of a member speaking, because of disagreement with the members comments, are a breach of  the rules and a misuse of time.

The  hour of adjournment is  legislatively set in the Procedural Bylaw.

Hours of  Council's  time  used for matters,  not the business of the municipality, is a waste of the time set and  an  abuse of process.

Starting a meeting later than the appointed time is an abuse of process. 

Start of  town  business, half an hour before the hour of adjournment, in a three and a half hour council meeting,  and continuing  the  meeting until 1.00 am. is an abuse of process.

When I leave a Council meeting at the hour of adjournment, I do not leave early. I  leave at the legislated  hour for completion of the  business.

When I raise my hand in opposition to extending the hour of adjournment to a unstated time, I am opposing  misuse of  legislated set  time to deal with the corporation's business and  a flagrant abuse of process.

Wilfull ignorance of content and intent of the Procedural Bylaw, incompetence  in maintaining order and acquiescence by the majority of Council is the reason town business is being conducted between 10.30 pm, the  legislated hour of adjournment, and  1.00 am.

Hours when no member of the community may  be expected to witness town business being conducted,despite  legislated requirements to ensure the opportunity.