{"id":7609,"date":"2014-07-30T16:22:30","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T20:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=7609"},"modified":"2014-08-06T05:35:24","modified_gmt":"2014-08-06T09:35:24","slug":"politics-as-usual-the-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-the-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: The Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Since my column has to be submitted no later than noon on a Monday to make it to print by Wednesday (lest I induce a state of apoplexy in our time crunched editor!), timing does not permit me to comment on how the Council appointment process actually unfolded.
\nI am optimistic that the proceedings were at least somewhat dignified. Well, one can only hope.
\nIn any event, perhaps recognizing that the previously described process was vague? Problematic? Chaotic?, the Clerk issued a change to the agenda with a proposed amendment to the voting process.
\n(Assuming they vote to change the process), Councillors will now be handed a voting sheet, with their own name at the top and a line upon which they will write the name of the candidate the Councillor selects for the vacancy.
\nThe clerk will then read out each sheet submitted: \u201cCouncillor X votes for candidate X\u201d and so on and so on until we have a tally.
\nIf each Council member votes for a different candidate, then the list of candidates will be winnowed down from 18 to 8 after the first round. Council will do the whole thing over again, until at least five out of the eight agree on one candidate.
\nScratch that. It will require a vote of at least four out of six as there will be – apparently – some absences at this meeting to address a council vacancy.
\nAs of Friday, two members of Council (Gallo and Gaertner), sent \u201cregrets\u201d thus indicating that they would be unable to attend the meeting.
\nThat is unfortunate. It\u2019s bad enough that eight people rather than 30,000 get to choose who sits at that table; to have only six out of the eight casting a vote makes it that much worse.
\nIf an appointment has to happen, and unfortunately Provincial legislation dictates that it must, then that appointment should be made by Council as a whole, not just a part of it.
\nIn light of that, I really do hope the two Councillors were able to make the meeting.
\nGetting back to my point, the proposed revised process is certainly better than the previous, unseemly free-for-all approach to the selection process, but still does not address the fundamental issue I have with how this whole thing is rolling out.
\nThe whole process as described should not be public. It should be done in closed session. Once they\u2019ve completed the winnowing and gotten to the final name, Council can then vote on that name publicly.
\nIf there are concerns about \u201cwhat goes on behind closed doors\u201d, be assured that a closed session meeting is still a meeting of Council. Members must adhere to the procedural by-law and strictures of the Act.
\nThe voting sheets would stay part of the record of closed session. Thus there would be a record \u2013 albeit confidential – of who voted for whom at every stage of the process.
\nIf members do not support the final candidate chosen by the majority, they can vote against it. That\u2019s how other appointment processes work. I am unclear why this one cannot work in the same way.
\nYou cannot convince me that this is what \u201copenness\u201d and \u201ctransparency\u201d means in this context. You cannot convince me that this undignified exercise is required under the Act.
\nThere should not be a public deliberation of the candidates. Period.
\nSo endeth the rant.
\nUntil next week, stay informed, stay involved because this is \u2013 after all \u2013 Our Town.<\/p>\n

To reach me, please email me at: acollinsmrakas@gmail.com. All comments, questions or concerns welcome. Contact me anytime!<\/p>\n

(Editor\u2019s Note: Councillor Gaertner attended the meeting in question.)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas Since my column has to be submitted no later than noon on a Monday to make it to print by Wednesday (lest I induce a state of apoplexy in our time crunched editor!), timing does not permit me to comment on how the Council appointment process actually unfolded. I am optimistic that […]<\/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-7609","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\/p3D2k4-1YJ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 09:05:57","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\/7609","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=7609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}