{"id":3874,"date":"2013-09-11T20:09:10","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T00:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=3874"},"modified":"2013-09-18T16:13:27","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T20:13:27","slug":"politics-as-usual-a-fundamental-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-a-fundamental-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: A Fundamental Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas<\/strong><\/p>\n

In pre-paration for this week\u2019s column I had a gander at the agenda for the September 10Council meeting.
\nThere\u2019s a lot to chew on from a political commentary perspective, however, I\u2019d like to focus on one particular item that seems rather innocuous but is not in fact \u2013 in my opinion \u2013 what it seems.
\nThe interesting little item is agenda item number four.
\nThe report \u2013 just a scant few pages \u2013 speaks to quality of life issues for staff that result from having to stay at Council meetings late into the evening. Council meetings, as we know, start at 7 p.m. and are supposed to end at 10 p.m., though they regularly go on until 11 and sometimes midnight or beyond.
\nStaff and Councillors alike are then expected to get up and go to work on time the next day. Everyone is tired. This seems to be the crux of the issue and the impetus for the report. Staff are therefore asking for Council\u2019s permission to \u201c\u2026review the meeting times of General Committee and Council and bring a report back to General Committee.\u201d
\nIt seems fairly straight forward. I know I used to be pretty tired the next day after a Council meeting; particularly those that ended in the wee hours of the morning. An earlier start time might be advantageous.
\nHowever, in my opinion, an earlier start time is not what they have in mind. When you read through the short report, the intent of the motion becomes fairly evident \u2013 that staff want to move Council and Committee meetings to daytime hours as opposed to evening hours.
\nOn what do I make that assertion? The report makes note that the evening meetings result in considerable lieu time and overtime accumulation for many staff members.
\nThis is a significant cost to the municipality. So, how else to you avoid lieu time being amassed as a result of meetings that go beyond the end of business? Have the meetings during business hours, that\u2019s how.
\nSo, what this report is really asking Council is to review whether Council\/Committee meetings can be held during regular office hours so that staff can get home on time, not amass countless lieu time hours, and generally be more productive the next day following Council meetings.
\nThey\u2019d like this report to be finished in time for the 2014 election so that those running for office are aware of the new parameters.
\nShould this motion pass and Council agree to this consideration, what this means then is anyone that has a regular job, anyone that works between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., will no longer be able to run for public office.
\nThis is a monumental shift in how we, as a community, will be governed.
\nNo longer will ordinary working people be able to serve their community as Council members. Only those that can take time off during the day to attend meetings will be able to run for office.
\nThis is simply not acceptable.
\nDaytime meetings are for full time Councillors as they are paid a full-time salary and expected to hold no other position. Part-time Councillors are just that \u2013 part time; in other words they are most often employed elsewhere in a full time capacity giving a good part of their free time as part-time Councillors in service to the community.
\nPart-time Councillors have always been drawn from the broadest spectrum of the community \u2013 which necessarily includes those that hold regular jobs. I would hate to see this change.
\nIf Council does consider this motion, then they should limit the review to a consideration of late afternoon\/early evening meeting times \u2013 say those that start after 4 pm. That way, those that work will still be able to run for office. I think that\u2019s a more reasonable option.
\nGiven the significant implications, a consideration of a move to daytime meetings requires a much broader public consultation process than a simple staff report and Council vote.
\nWe should have a right to say whether there will be limits on who can run for office in our community, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n

Until next week, stay informed, stay involved, because this is, after all, Our Town.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas In pre-paration for this week\u2019s column I had a gander at the agenda for the September 10Council meeting. There\u2019s a lot to chew on from a political commentary perspective, however, I\u2019d like to focus on one particular item that seems rather innocuous but is not in fact \u2013 in my opinion \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-10u","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 20:30:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}