Hectic but Orderly At Last

The week-end that was. I spent  Saturday and Sunday scrutinising the  2011 town  operations budget ready for  Monday' nine to four meeting  which  Council  and staff  spent  collectively scrutinising the document.

The start of  Monday was odd. The former Mayor was in attendance. At the press table behind me, apparently, I am told, with a tablet of some sort.  The  purpose was not obvious. I suspect it was also not realised .  Councillor Gaertner opted to surrender her right to participate in the process.   Whatever might have been previously planned did not come to be.

A  piece of unfinished business from the previous meeting  needed attention.

Councillor Gaertner, under  twisted logic, clear only to herself,  had accused the  Clerk of deliberately falsifying  the public record.

With the utmost respect and civility, the record was  read back to her precisely  as it  had happened. Still the Councillor insisted the minutes had been "doctored".

Another  Councillor raised a Question of Privilege. The presiding member called upon Councillor Gaertner to wthdraw the  accusation .The Councillor refused. The matter was left pending.

It could not be ignored. 

A statutary officer, responsible for accuracy of   the municipal records, can not stand accused of falsifying  records. The integrity of the corporation rests on the accuracy of the  records.Let them be proven wrong once, they are forever  vulnerable to challenge.

The accuracy of the records cannot be tinkered .Well they can. And indeed have been. But not without consequence. Most residents may recall a memorable incident associated with the ubiquitous Sher St. Kitts.

Where the town's procedure bylaw does not address an issue, Bourinot's Rules of Order are to  be the reference. There is  always a process .

On Monday morning, before the budget meeting commenced, Councillor Gaertner was asked once again to withdraw her accusation against the Clerk. Again she refused.Then the hammer fell. As the hammer must, if we are to have civilised dialogue within  a Council Chamber between administration and elected officials and records held beyond reproach. 

The presiding member informed the Councillor, questions from herself would no longer be directed to staff through the chair. That the resource was no longer available to her and would not be until she changed her mind and withdrew her accusation of wrong-doing.

The Councillor continued to insist she had done nothing wrong and she would simply sit in her chair for the rest of the meeting.

At lunch time she left. After lunch, Councillor Ballard sought the reference  in the Procedure Bylaw for authority to prohibit a Councillor from participating in her elected responsibilities. .

The response was; the decision is at the discretion of the presiding member. The former Mayor had also exited the chamber at the same time as Councillor Gaertner.

The meeting was productive. Questions were asked.  Responses fulsomely provided. The agenda for the day was completed on time. .

I was glad I had moved, in the term previous to the last,  that Rules of Order referenced in the Town of Aurora's Procedure Bylaw be changed  from Robert's to Bourinot's, the small Canadian catechism of orderly procedures.