According to the Terms of Reference of the Trails and Active Transportation Committee, there are no Council members on it. The composition is:
Three (3) members of the public,
One (1) citizen member from the Parks and Recreation Advisory
Committee,
One (1) citizen member from the Environmental Advisory Committee,
One (1) member from the Planning and Development Department,
Two (2) members from the Parks and Recreation Department,
One (1) member from the Infrastructure and Environmental Services
Department.
5 citizens, 4 local staff, and apparently one nurse being paid by the Region.
Evelyn - how about raising it at Council and asking the Mayor to ask at the Region if it's a necessary expense?
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The last Council meeting was taking place at the time of several reports of young children
suffocating to death in locked vehicles during the heat wave.
It occurred to me some public agency should have noticed and launched a campaign to warn
parents of the danger . It seemed the Public Health Nurses was that agency.
Before the meeting started I told the Mayor I intended to ask the question during the meeting.
It was not to be.The second Council meeting in June started at six p.m. and ended at midnight. The agenda was not completed. Town business remained unfinished.
The single meeting in July also started at 6p.m. and ended at midnight. In camera discussion started at ^p.m.
Delegations and presentations started at 7p.m. and did not end until 9 pm.
There's another item on the agenda called "public service" . Councillors are invited to talk about events they have attended since the previous meeting.
It's promotion of everything that's going on in the community the Councillor can think of , not least the Councillor doing the promotion.
In the meantime, the elephant in the room is the business agenda awaiting Council's attention.
One reads several hundred pages of material in preparation for debate that never happens.
Invariably , half the agenda gets deferred until the next meeting. The reading has to be done again to refresh one's awareness of the business to be discussed. Or alternately, the items are moved to be passed without discussion.
It can hardly be argued town business takes priority at the Council table.
I would go further and suggest everything but the town's business takes priority.
That part of the agenda that allows a Councillor to raise a question that might require an immediate response , from staff or the Mayor as the Regional representative more often fails to present.
Or just as likely, at midnight after six hours of talk, some meaningful , some not, and still business incomplete, there's no energy left to continue.
The community is not well served.
Even if some are well-pleased by the attention they receive from Council featured on television.
And others equally pleased that there isn't enough time to do the job as it should be done.
Posts
6 comments:
"It's promotion of everything that's going on in the community the Councillor can think of , not least the Councillor doing the promotion."
Isn't it a good idea to promote positive happenings in town (e.g., Special Olympics)?
"It can hardly be argued town business takes priority at the Council table."
I would argue that ALL of that is Town Business. You cannot rely on either newspaper to cover those types of things because they have their own agendas. The public has no other outlet to know.
Perhaps if you opened up your mind to the reality of what Aurora is in 2013 and stop living in 1970, you'd understand.
20:16
I believe the original idea was to ' briefly ' mention something that residents might have missed. The Auroran now covers almost everything before, during & after. So there is no need to pontificate at length. And you will notice that Evelyn is quite sparse in her references to the Special Olympics while other, less involved personally, go on with speechifying.
Of course it's a good idea. But a letter to the editor in the Auroran will probably be read by more people than watched on TV, So promote it there and let council get on with the business of running the town.
More actual business might be accomplished if that triad would stop dragging red herring all over the agenda. Time and money has been lost on phoney alcohol expenses, that attack on Lucid, the cell tower in King, and an unsightly guard rail for heaven's sake.
Not to maligne the animal kingdom, but we see a lot of 'pack behaviour ' from certain councillors. They only seem to be happy when they are targeting someone or something viewed as weaker.
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