A Loose End

Anonymous said...

Hey anonymous. Was it Phyllis' fault when Tim had to throw Evelyn out of council chambers?

12 November, 2010 7:52 AM

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I am more than happy to tell that story again. The issue at hand was removal of Number 1 John West Parkway as address for the Aurora Town Hall.

I recently learned something new about the address. Developers have the right. to name streets. Councils have the right to refuse a  name.  The council of the day did not. Every street in the development bore the  name of a sitting Councillor.   

It was ever thus. . Streets  must be named.

Nigel Kean, an erstwhile  losing candidate for the office of Mayor,  moved and Phyllis Morris also a losing candidate for the office of Mayor, seconded , The Town Hall address be changed.

The driveway into the parking lot be called  Municipal Drive, so that John West's name could be removed . It had been there  fourteen years.

Mr. Kean had tried to change the street name  in a previous bid.

Got nowhere with that.

In the 2003/6 term he lost no time  trying again.

John West was a sitting member of Council. He had served several terms as Mayor, a term as School Board Trustee and several terms as Councillor. Before  political service ,his reputation was for  helping wherever help was needed.

He had been elected several times before and several times since the street was given his name.

The community  had clearly endorsed the honour.  

Lifelong friends and supporters who  rallied to his cause in every election,.rallied again to oppose what they perceived to be a  humiliation of  someone  who had served his community well.  They delegated  against the proposal while seeking  to understand.

To no avail. Notice had been  given. The motion came forward. Neither  mover Nigel Kean nor  seconder Phyllis Morris chose to speak to the motion.

When a motion comes forward  without an  argument to  support it, that's a strategy .

It means the mover and seconder  are sure  of  sufficient  votes for the motion to pass .

They know beforehand.

No rule that requires a mover or a seconder to speak to  a motion.

If no argument is presented in favour, an opposing rationale is limited.  

I chose to argue  the strategy. I  said  it was clear a majority of  Councillors were  complicit in the effort to change the address.

Councillor Vrancic objected.  He declared  "I did not do that"

Mayor  Jones accepted the point of order and requested I  withdraw the word "complicit"

I refused.   The word  perfectly suited the circumstance.  Mayor Jones gave  the option; I must  withdraw the word or  leave  the Council Chamber.

I chose not to withdraw the word. The word I used was the word I meant. I believed five Councillors   agreed  to the motion beforehand.

I considered it within my rights as a councillor to  make that observation  and not within the authority of the presiding member to expel me from the Council Chamber for doing so.

 After the fact, I gathered  research to support my understanding of the  right of an elected representative to speak frankly and freely and  resolved  never again to comply with an order to withdraw any comment of mine based on a firm and honest  belief.

Nor would I  agree with  any order from the Presiding member  to vacate the chair to which I had been elected.

Councillors Kean and Morris were apparently quite excited about the outcome. They thought  I would be unable to take my seat without tendering the required apology.

It was never thus.

Circumstances envisaged to  allow an elected representative to be removed from their 

place, is if the member is drunk and disorderly or  out of control for any other reason, has made an accusation of criminal wrong-doing and the  resulting uproar is preventing the business of the council  from  continuing.

The  two eventually  acknowledged the reason for changing the town hall address was because it gave  a candidate a financial advantage of free advertising during an election.

I never did withdraw my contention that five Councillors were complicit in  making a decision

without offering the community a reason.

During this term , now outgoing Mayor Phyllis Morris has attempted several times. in public  and in camera meetings , to compel me, urged  by outgoing Councillor MacEachern,  to  apologise or withdraw  a  reference  made within my authority as an elected representative.

As recently as the  special meeting on November 9th.

Without success.

I didn't have a blog or  readership when Tim made his infamous ruling during the 2003/6 term.

But I have it now.