The Citizen, 2017-08-31, Page 8PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2017.
Decision on HE council size pushed to Sept. 5
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
The final decision on the
elimination of the deputy -mayor
position in Huron East will have to
wait until Sept. 5.
Council debated the issue at length
at its Aug. 22 meeting and heard
from two ratepayers who presented
their thoughts on the issue. However,
when it came time to make a final
decision, councillors voted to delay
the vote due to the absence of
current Deputy -Mayor Joe Steffler,
who was hospitalized at the time.
Mayor Bernie MacLellan said he
had spoken with Steffler, who asked
that council hold off on officially
changing council's composition
until he was there and could present
"additional information" that could
alter the debate. In addition,
Councillor Larry McGrath said he
wanted to speak to Steffler regarding
the deputy -mayor's workload and
duties before he felt prepared to vote
on the subject.
The bylaw up for debate would
eliminate the deputy -mayor as an at -
large position. The alternative would
be that council would consist of one
mayor and 10 councillors (two per
each of the five wards) and council
would vote to make one of those 10
councillors the deputy -mayor.
Council voted in favour of this
shift over a year ago, but Chief
Administrative Officer Brad Knight
waited for a number of votes in other
municipalities to be taken before
officially preparing a bylaw for
Huron East.
Councillor Ray Chartrand has
been one of the major driving forces
behind the change, saying that many
municipalities and cities throughout
Ontario function without an at -
large deputy -mayor and that
Huron East would be no different.
In the wake of Steffler's absence,
however, several councillors felt
compelled to exercise "compassion"
and hold the vote until Steffler could
be present. In addition, Knight said
that in order for the proposed
changes to take effect ahead of the
next municipal election, slated for
October of 2018, council didn't have
to pass a bylaw until the end of the
year, so there was plenty of time left
before a decision needed to be made.
As part of the discussion, two
ratepayers had their say. First, Jeff
Denys spoke in favour of the change,
saying that he felt the at -large
deputy -mayor position should be
eliminated, but he cautioned council
against eliminating any further
council positions, which had been up
for discussion
He likened the 2016 proposal from
the administration committee to
reduce the size of council to one
councillor per ward to downsizing at
Leading in song
Hope Chapel Cemetery in Central Huron held its annual dedication ceremony on Sunday. The
cemetery is on Hullett-McKillop Road just southwest of Blyth. Officiant Dave Gagne, right, led
the service. (Quinn Talbot photo)
The Citizen
11111111.11,
See histories and historic
photographs on the
Huron History section
of our website
www.northhuron.on.ca
waw
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a business, saying that it would be
the equivalent of asking an employee
to double his current workload.
The second ratepayer was Joe
Seili, former Huron East mayor and
councillor, who disagreed with
Denys and went even further. He
said he felt council should be
composed of only five councillors,
but that they should all be elected at -
large.
As someone who had been
involved with Huron East for many
of its years since amalgamation over
15 years ago, Seili said the transition
committee at the time of
amalgamation did a great job to
bring the five communities together.
However, he felt that work has been
completed and it was time to move
on from the ward -based councillor
system and vote for representatives
at -large.
Chartrand said he felt that the
necessary debate had taken place
and that it was time to vote on the
proposal. It had been on the table for
over a year, he said, and it was time
to finally put it to bed.
In regards to holding the vote until
Steffler was present, Councillor
David Blaney said he was concerned
about potentially setting a dangerous
precedent. If council establishes that
certain councillors should be present
for certain votes, that could present
the impression that council is trying
to massage the final vote.
He used the example of a vote to
accept money from a wind turbine
vibrancy fund that was defeated
years ago. Two councillors, both of
whom would have been in favour of
accepting the money, were absent for
the vote. The motion was defeated
and, at the time, council voted not to
accept the money from the vibrancy
fund.
Had council deferred that vote
until those councillors were present,
the outcome would have been
different. That vote, Blaney said,
that would have paid the
municipality over $2 million,
arguably was much more important
to the municipality than whether or
not it eliminates the at -large deputy -
mayor position and it wasn't delayed
due to a councillor's absence.
In the end, councillors voted to a
tie on the vote to postpone the
decision, which would normally
result in the motion being defeated.
However, after originally abstaining
from the vote, MacLellan opted to
vote and break the tie, voting in
favour of the motion.
The bylaw to consider eliminating
the at -large deputy -mayor position
will be considered at council's Sept.
5 meeting.
UCW set to
meet Sept. 18
Continued from page 7
Lobb, information about the new
Smartboard, a coffeemaker and the
summer theatre outing were given.
Four children from the congregation
will be receiving financial assistance
to attend Camp Menesetung. A
blanket making day will be held
come fall.
The UCW will meet again on
Sept. 18 at 7 p.m.
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