Town Business Left Unfinished

This is not the update from Council last night, that will be up shortly. This is a brief response to a number of questions raised with regards to why the Council meeting last night was abruptly stopped and, as a result, my motion about the vacancy tax rebate – that many people were interested in – was not dealt with. (I should also point out that New Business was also not dealt with because the meeting was stopped.)
To answer your questions, unfortunately, under our new procedural bylaw, when there is a second request to extend the hour of the meeting (in other words to have the meeting go beyond 11:00 pm), it requires the unanimous support of Council to continue. Last night Councillor Abel voted against allowing the meeting to extend beyond 11:00 pm. This had the effect of shutting down the meeting – literally in the middle of Councillor Pirri speaking to a motion on the floor. I can’t speak to why the Councillor did not want to continue with the meeting – especially given that we were debating his own motion – however, what I can say is that it is truly unfortunate that the business of the municipality was left undone.
Clearly, this needs to change. A procedural bylaw that allows, in essence, one Councillor to have the ability to shut down the business of the municipality is not an effective way to run a meeting. This is a flawed process and I will be looking to change this; I have spoken with staff and the Mayor and a report for reconsideration to have Council revert back to our previous procedural by-law which required only a 2/3 majority to extend the hour of a Council meeting will be put forward at the next Council meeting.
For those waiting for the discussion of my motion, on the Vacancy Tax Rebate it will not be discussed till February 28th.