"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Friday 8 June 2012

Order By Rule

Jeremy Grimaldi, the Aurora Banner reporter called this morning. He had been watching a video of the  committee meeting on Tuesday night and heard me use the word "Shut up" to Councillor Pirri.
I did use the word. But not by itself alone.
I was speaking to a staff  recommendation the town  spend $100,000 of the hydro  reserve fund; newly titled Council's Discretionary Reserve Fund;  $70,000  earmarked for a  contract manager  for twelve months to plan a twelve month extravaganza to celebrate the town's sesquicentennial.
In his role  of guidance and leadership the Mayor said;"The money is sitting in a bank account.  We are looking for ways to spend it."
I was perturbed. I had awaited my turn to be recognised by the chair. I had the floor.
Councillor Pirri decided he should interrupt  on a point of order.
To my recollection, the Councillor has yet to make a speech signifying any degree of passion.
He cannot  know how it feels to be interrupted in full flight of oratory.
In keeping with the rules.I stopped speaking. Councillor Pirri then launched into a rambling explanation of his point of order.
Now, out of order, I informed him a point must be stated clearly and succinctly..and then shut up.My voice raised at that point.
The process calls for a ruling by the chair.
"If   a rambling explanation is needed  ,it is not a point." I said.
Councillor Gaertner was in the chair. The storm raged over her head. 
"Alright then" said he.  Obviously not noticing the steam coming out of my ears,; he declared  " then it's a question of privilege"
A question of privilege is raised  when a Councillor believes his integrity has been impugned.
Councillor Pirri had spoken in favor of the recommendation.
As was his right.
The Mayor had stated  opposition to the recommendation simply boggled his mind. 
In his view  those opposing  did not wish to honor the town's history. About then he referred to having all that money in the bank  and looking for ways  to spend it..
I admit, there are times when my own mind balks at believing  what I am hearing.
It's like  my front- loading washing machine overloaded. The  pitch of the motor rises , the machine shakes and shivers and almost rocks . I hold my breath hoping for the cycle to end without the machine blowing apart.
It was at that point, Councillor Pirri decided to interrupt me.
Sometimes, it's more than a body can stand.
It"s not a classroom debate with  topic set by the teacher and students assigned to speak for and against.
Councillors are thinking on their feet. They must be prepared to argue  a position while also  prepared to listen, mentally list counterpoints or allow oneself to be persuaded. 
There is tension. There should be tension. .
Nine people at the table have responsibility to cover every aspect of the question. Listening is  important.
Nothing trumps listening.
A pact formed beforehand is a hindrance to listening and being prepared to change one's mind.
Interrupting with a specious point of order or question of privilege, not knowing which, not only contributes nothing to the debate, it  risks causing  the machine to blow apart with various parts flying into orbit and landing who knows where.
To quote the late Dick Illingworth on making a point of order; "Stand up,speak up and shut up"
Before we had microphones , we rose to address the chair.
From that comes the expression " thinking on one's feet".
It's a skill that must be learned. And having been learned, it's hard to shake.      

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where can we watch the video?

Anonymous said...

If there is such a thing as a school that teaches the art of debating, possibly all first-time elected officials should have to attend and obtain at least a mark of 75%.

Until they do so they should not be allowed to speak at council meetings in the circumstance outlined by you.

The seat in which the chair sits should be equipped with an ejection that can be triggered by a minimum of five members so voting.

Anonymous said...

From the Toronto Star:

"Rob Ford has made his name as a principled and penny-pinching council contrarian who regularly found himself voting alone or with very few others."

Remind you of anyone?

Anonymous said...

I think the last reporter for the Banner used to actually attend meetings. When he called with a question, he usually have done some work in advance. Wonder what happened to him.

Anonymous said...

Odd that he would call. For me, the 'hook' of the story is the Mayor's professed desire to spend money.

Anonymous said...

Totally off-topic. Maybe someone can help? I got hit by a rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water with horns that blew my socks off. Not in control of the source & I just heard the word ' friends'. Checked for ages. Not in the Old Friends information.

Anonymous said...

3:56 PM Yup and that Council just banned plastic bags in Toronto. Not the sharpest bunch. Did you have a point to make other than the obvious pot-shot?

Anonymous said...

No. 3:54 PM. We cannot reject a minority. Not good for the town or anyone in it.

Anonymous said...

For 3:56 PM Write your own material and stop cloning yourself with the quotes of others. You can do it.

Anonymous said...

I don't know, Councillor Buck, sometimes I find you talk way too much on some matters and the point is lost in your ramblings. I find your opinion worth listening to, but many times the subject is 'Lost in Translation" as you lose your focus. This blog is no different. Who is your anger towards, our Mayor, or Councillor Pirri? Or the chair of the meeting? Or being interrupted? All of the above?

Tim the Enchanter said...

I think we need to look beyond the petty rules-of-order squabbling and see the bigger issue.
There is no chance in Hades that this council will ever be able to judisciously dispense $33M.

I'm convinced this council is better than the last and is fairly well populated with well-meaning citizens but let's be honest - responsibility for this kind of money is over their pay grade.
We're like one of those lottery stories where Billy Bob never actually gets to leave the trailer park because he blows his entire megabucks win buying all of his friends SUV's, lifetime supplies of KFC and a WW2 surplus tank - "because it's cool".
Some folks just aren't meant to have big money.

Now we're actually considering paying someone $70K to PLAN a party.
HAVE YOU PEOPLE LOST YOUR MINDS!!!

How many council meetings have been frittered away by the internecine hair-pulling and eyegouging over a petty cash $1300 gift to some music festival?

And this council thinks it can handle $33M?
Puhleeze.

Stop it.
Stop it now before all of your heads explode.
There are X number of ratepayers in Aurora.
Direct staff to divide X into $33M and deduct same from next tax bill.

Unless of course council past or present has rigged some "rule" that taxpayer money cannot be given back to taxpayers.

And if it makes you happy - grab a few bucks from the Leisure budget for some hotdogs and couple of firecrackers for Aurora's "big day".

Anonymous said...

It appears that no one is prepared to argue in favour of the expensive birthday bash. There also seems to be agreement that Aurora staff can perfectly manage to produce a decent celebration all by themselves. This kind of idea being flown in the first place is distressing. It reminds us of those who seem to farm out all events. We now have taken Canada Day back from it's expensive experiment. Let's not be stupid again. We can handle this on our own without outside help. Our staff are well-paid and we make pretty good volunteers.

Anonymous said...

How much does Aurora spend over the Canada Day long weekend? That is the sort of # we should be looking at realistically. Forget the bloody planner.

Anonymous said...

Let me introduce an unthinkable idea. What if the Party could actually generate revenue? Or maybe even pay towards itself? Just an early thought but I can see the service clubs working together. The Market could put on something special for the occasion. Others will have better ideas than I, but we should think positively rather than negatively. It could be good for Aurora, not just a sucking sound that produces zip.