{"id":7530,"date":"2014-07-23T13:07:34","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T17:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=7530"},"modified":"2014-07-30T16:14:31","modified_gmt":"2014-07-30T20:14:31","slug":"politics-as-usual-a-very-public-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-a-very-public-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: A Very Public Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

As of 4.30 p.m. Friday, we officially have 18 candidates for the Council vacancy; citizens of sound mind and body, willing and eager to assume the mantle of governance on our behalf. God help them!
\nThere are some familiar names on the list \u2013 former councillors, local business owners and volunteers, and some new names too. There are even a few municipal election candidates thrown in for good measure.
\nOf those eligible citizens that have stepped forward, each has submitted their nomination form and will be expected to attend the council meeting of July 29 and, in three minutes or less, explain to Council why he or she should be selected as the appointee to fill the vacant Council seat.
\nCouncillors are allowed to ask two questions, then will deliberate, and make their decision.
\nThe voting process will function ostensibly like a leadership convention run-off with multiple ballots and names being dropped off along the way until the ultimate \u201cwinner\u201d is announced. If no candidate gets the requisite majority and Council is deadlocked in a tie for the last two candidates standing, then the appointee will be drawn by lot. So, in other words, if all else fails, flip a coin.
\nAnd all of this will be public. Very, very public.
\nCouncillors will be expected to state their choice of candidate \u2013 verbally \u2013 while all the other candidates and their families and friends must sit there and listen. It will be awkward at best, humiliating at worst, like some adult version of a schoolyard stick ball team selection.
\nI don\u2019t envy the candidates or the councillors. How awful for them all.
\nI understand that there is a need to be seen to be \u201copen\u201d and \u201ctransparent.\u201d However, this is one of those times that the pendulum has swung too far to the right in the accountability spectrum.
\nOther municipalities have used this very same process \u2013 most recently Richmond Hill in 2013. However, I was not aware of the particulars \u2013 or implications of the particulars of the voting process, and I very much doubt the candidates are aware either.
\nI do not mean to criticize here as I understand the intention and staff\u2019s reasoning, but I have to say that I think the proposed voting methodology and argument in support of same is seriously flawed.
\nBy virtue of the Municipal Act, all Council decisions must be public. The Act does not \u2013 however – require all Council deliberations to be public. That\u2019s what closed sessions are for: business deals, legal matters and issues concerning publicly identifiable people.
\nIt seems to me that selection of a publicly identified candidate for Council appointment would qualify as meeting the criteria for closed session deliberations.
\nWhen council makes appointments to advisory committees, the deliberations are in closed session, and the vote to ratify the decision is public. For example, Council recently went into closed session to deliberate appointments to the Joint Compliance Audit Committee. The reasons for closed session deliberations of appointments are obvious: to save people embarrassment.
\nWho would subject themselves to public vetting just to hold municipal office (yes, yes, elections are a very public vetting. But it is a collective vetting, by secret ballot, not a public vetting by individuals declaring \u201cyay\u201d or \u201cnay\u201d in a metaphorical coliseum).
\nSo, I ask you \u2013 if appointments to an advisory committee are deliberated in closed session and decisions ratified publicly, why are Council appointments treated any differently?
\nUntil next week, stay informed, stay involved because this is \u2013 after all \u2013 Our Town.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas As of 4.30 p.m. Friday, we officially have 18 candidates for the Council vacancy; citizens of sound mind and body, willing and eager to assume the mantle of governance on our behalf. God help them! There are some familiar names on the list \u2013 former councillors, local business owners and volunteers, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7530","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\/p3D2k4-1Xs","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-25 06:52:01","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\/7530","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=7530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7530\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}