Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Clear and Transparent":
I have a question that is not really related to your post.
I see that in the new council configuration, the mayor is flanked by the town clerk and the town CAO.
I think I read in the Auroran a couple of weeks ago that this was always the practice until the beginning of last term when it was changed. During the last 4 years, all town staff sat opposite the council (now that's a confrontational arrangement if ever I saw one). Do you have any idea why it was changed, how it was changed and by whom?
I must say I much prefer the way it is now again. It makes much more sense as the TC and CAO can be conferred with more easily
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Traditionally, the Clerk is always at the elbow of the presiding member. For the reason you have just observed.
No staff person can speak during a formal Council meeting without being invited to do so.
No presiding member can be expected to be as facile with rules of order as the Clerk of the Municipality.
If something connected to the rules is mis-stated or misunderstood,it's a simple matter for the clerk to be unobtrusive about the need for an interjection. He is invited to do so by the presiding member.
To a lesser extent and in a different area, the same applies to the Chief Administrative Officer.
When the change was made in the last Council, there was no discussion. We arrived one night and found the officials had been relegated to a position of less
The presiding member had a Councillor beside her and between the two of them they made rules to suit themselves as they went along.There were plenty of times when it was impossible to function. Hanging tough was the only option.
Other stuff has diminished the clerk's role. Not, in my opinion, to the betterment.
Throughout the term, it has not been clear which was an administrative decision and which under the command of the former Mayor. It may sort itself out. I am somewhat less than confident.
The new Mayor is receiving advice from a number of well-informed resources. He made the right decision when he re-arranged the configuration.
It's a good start.
Wednesday 22 December 2010
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5 comments:
"When the change was made in the last Council, there was no discussion. We arrived one night and found the officials had been relegated to a position of less "
So was there any discussion this time?
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"Traditionally, the Clerk is always at the elbow of the presiding member."
It might be tradition in Aurora (who knows) but it is not universal. Here are a few examples I was able to find on the net where the clerk and CAO are not within whispering distance of the Mayor.
http://www.toronto.ca/city_hall_tour/council_chamber.htm
http://www.opkansas.org/City-Government/City-Council
http://www.baldwincountynow.com/articles/2008/04/16/local_news/doc48051e9a473d4637499565.txt
There were other examples I found including where the seating arrangement is what you call "traditional", but it is by no means universal.
As I recall the reason given for the previous seating arrangement was to increase transparency, so that the mayor would not be seen to be strategizing on how to unfairly control meeting discourse.
To Anonymoose
"...was to increase transparency, so that the mayor would not be seen to be strategizing on how to unfairly control meeting discourse...." my ass!
More likely it was so she and Evilina could confer and strategize on how to control the meeting and also how to confront more effectively!
"As I recall the reason given for the previous seating arrangement was to increase transparency, so that the mayor would not be seen to be strategizing on how to unfairly control meeting discourse."
And how did that work out?! It had the opposite effect - seen and heard!
Anonymoose, there's no more need for a Resident Morris Apologist. She lost - check that - she was thrashed at the polls.
Moose:
You appear to be getting stupider and stupider the longer you are away from your old seat.
You're done! Forget it! Get a life!
You refer us to two American sites, namely Overland Park, Kansas, and Gulf Coast Information in Alabama. Surely this is over-reaching the justification for a seating plan.
You must have better things to do with your time.
If not, then you should be the object of pity, but I can't quite bring myself to go that far.
Try to get into the spirit of the season.
"You refer us to two American sites, namely Overland Park, Kansas, and Gulf Coast Information in Alabama. Surely this is over-reaching the justification for a seating plan."
LOL, not at all. Interesting you missed the first one in the list, which is that great big CANADIAN city to the south of us called Toronto. Hey I can only post what I can find. Sadly, few other Canadian municipalities are sharing this information on the web.
The structure of our municipal government has a lot in common with the States, as well as the UK, Australia and other Commonwealth and former British Empire colonies, so the comparisons are not without merit.
I am very much in the Christmas spirit and wish all of you a very merry Christmas. Even those who are liberal with the insults, and not as much into the "spirit of the season" as they like to think they are.
Merry Christmas everyone. Yes, and that includes you too Evelyn. I have a lot of hope for this new council in the new year.
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