Getting Business Done

Awards are received and presented by the Town.I wonder  sometimes ,if there is so much excellence  to satisfy so many awards, at what point does excellence become just average?

At any rate,presentation or receiving an award requires  an element of dignity and celebration.

Squeezing it in with others at a business meeting of Council  serves neither purpose. Handing it over pictures taken  with the Mayor and sending recipients on their way while Council deals with more important business is hardly congratulatory.

The Skylight Gallery in the Town Hall was designed for such events. The Mayor is a full time official
and paid accordingly ,therefore available during the day.  Awards should be presented  or received  at a reception in The Gallery with coffee , tea,cookies and soft drinks served and a social event  with occasion properly respected.

Councillors are part-time representatives and paid accordingly.  A fraction of the Mayor's remuneration. Necessarily they have jobs.They've been at work all day and will rise to get to work the next day.

Creating an agenda that can't possibly be completed in the time allocated and keeps Councillors at the town hall until midnight shows a total lack of  management  and respect and consideration  for  the Council.

It's not the  solitary degradation of a Councillor's role .

According to the procedure bylaw, a Councillor who wishes to bring an issue to Council for debate, must provide. in writing .a notice of motion before mid-day on a Thursday prior to a Council meeting.

The motion itself cannot be  tabled for debate until  next Council meeting  and must again be presented in writing in time to be included on the agenda.

A resident, or even a  non-resident ,can address Council with a  personal concern with an
application for delegation status before 4p.m. on the  day of a meeting. Add-ons are more the rulr than the exception.

A Councillor is permitted to speak twice, for ten minutes, to a motion  tabled with notice .

A delegate is required to state the purpose of the delegation. No matter what, it is  included in the agenda.

A delegate is allowed to speak for ten minutes But three can be heard on the same issue.  Questions from Councillors  are allowed.  So there's no limit to the time a delegate can take  out  of  a Council meeting.

No limit to the time of staff  being paid to be present with no function to perform.

Town  business  has no priority.

When a question has been decided by Council it can not be brought back for consideration for six months.

 Unless one who has voted with the majority brings forwrad a motion for re-consideration which must receive two-thirds  majority.

On the other hand, by  a series of manipulation by various Councillors , a delegation can return  again and again to press their case. There's no limit to the latitude.

As we have seen with William Albino and his real estate promotion scheme and John Huntington who is determined the town will fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars to prove he and his neighbors were illegally served when a cell tower was erected in   a field in King Township. Where they could see it.

The process shopws a lack of respect by staff and Council for the role of the elected body.



I believe the town's business should take priority. I also believe its current organization is appalling.

If citizens wish to delegate to Council. they should be heard after business is complete

. If there  is too much business ,there should be no delegations .