About Order And Chaos.

I can't wait until I've read the agenda. I have to share this  thought with you.

On Tuesday night, a revision of the  Procedural Bylaw was on the agenda for discussion . A new Council is obliged by Municipal law to adopt a Procedural Bylaw as a second item of business in every new term of office. First item is the Oath of Office.

Procedure is mostly administrative. It sets   date and time of Council Meetings and Council- in- Committee. It commits to publicising  Agendas. which sets out business to be decided . It indicates  time of adjournment so \ people are aware within which hours council will deliberate and decide which issues.

We did all that during the last term.That's all we did. Seldom was  business carried out within  hours specified.  Decisions were frequently made during the witching hours and  items were often deferred, more than once, from one meeting to another

If a member of the public was trying to keep tabs on town business ,they would quickly have learned   the impossibility of the  task.

We have done better this term. But we do seem to be drifting in that direction again.

Since  I came back to Council in 2003, this is the first time I've felt  I had a chance of influencing the bylaw.

We have had it before us three times now. I am most concerned with the rules of order. They govern the form of our debate.

Without order, there is chaos.

Eight people and a presiding member are at the table, Everyone with a right to participate. Meetings are scheduled for 3.5 hours. Discipline from  all present is required

Councillors are individually chosen by the electorate. They are not chosen collectively. They are not a gelatinous mass,subject to  being. compelled to surrender personal judgment. They are not subservient.

(Unless they have made the error of agreeing to be part of a slate riding in on someone else's coat-tails)

Each and every Councillor is endowed with personal authority by virtue of being elected.

Authority  revolves around  responsibility and accountability.

A clause  in Rules of Order requires Councillors to "obey" and determines punishment for "disobedience"

It irritates me exceedingly and has done so  since I returned to Council in 2003.

The presiding member of council, has a greater responsibility than others within a Council meeting. The Municipal Act states the Mayor shall provide" leadership and guidance" It does not say he exercises power and  authority. The opposite is true in reality.  The presiding member is first among equals, subject to the authority of council.

Nine people are elected . People who may not otherwise choose to be to-gether but have been chosen to work together for a common purpose; the betterment of the community.

In academia, it is referred to as collegiality. 

There is no place for  words like " obey and disobedience" in such an organisation.

The onus is upon Councillors,to agree to  respect and abide by a set of rules governing meetings, for the purpose of working constructively and with civility.

Rules that require no individual to surrender judgment to the majority.

Rules of Order require unanimous consent to be respected and observed.

They cannot be foisted on an unwilling member.

They don't work either if some councillors don't understand what they are agreeing to or why.