After hearing from nearly 30 citizens who attended a public meeting on Dec. 2, county council voted two days later to for a two year term of office for the warden, starting after the 2010 municipal election.
Warden Joanne Ross-Zuj will complete her second one year term prior to that.
Like the opinions from the public meetings, the vote at council was not unanimous, but it carried.
Citizens who had attended the meeting in Aboyne on Dec. 2 offered a variety of opinions, with several of them stating the warden should be elected at large from across the entire county, instead of by county council from within the elected council.
Former Nichol township councillor Sandy Cleghorn explained at the public meeting that the original intent in the amalgamation order was to have a warden elected at large for a four year term by the citizens of Wellington County.
Cleghorn said he was at a Transition Board meeting for Centre Wellington when county lawyer Hugh Guthrie informed the board that the terms for electing a warden had been changed back to the old county tradition instead of what was originally recommended.
There have been concerns voiced about the decision ever since, and the issue seems to come up at county council once every term.
While the county was changing the term of warden, it also considered a number of other housekeeping issues dealing with its procedural bylaw.
From now on, the term “closed session” replaces the Latin term, “in camera.” The two terms mean virtually the same thing, but county meeting investigator Norm Gamble told county council earlier this year that “closed session” is easier for people to understand.
Council also deleted from its agenda the section for “other business.” Ross-Zuj explained the reason for that is everyone can see the county agenda on the county website, and its elimination ensures that only topics that have been announced will be debated.
There will be two additions. The new agenda packages will include municipal announcements, which are mayors promoting events in their municipalities at the end of regular council sessions. Those have been going on for some time, and the change simply recognizes that.
The other section being formally added is “cultural moment” which has been a part of the council meetings for several years. Museum administrator Bonnie Callen brings pieces from the museum’s collection and hangs them on the wall in the council chamber each month. She also explains the piece and why she selected it.
Council agreed that the chairman of the administration, finance, and personnel committee will act on behalf of the warden if the warden is unable to do so.
Finally, council will likely shorten its meeting by several minutes by elimination of the reading of the bylaw titles. In councils from many years ago, bylaws were read aloud, in their entirety, three times, and voted on each time.
The reason for that was there was only one copy of the bylaw in those days.
Gradually, councils have moved away from reading entire bylaws. (Some of them can run into dozens of pages). Now, with bylaws placed on the website, councillors and the public can easily find out what they contain, so reading a long list of titles will now also be dropped.
Finally, council agreed that in the event of a pandemic, the warden’s advisory committee, which consists of the committee chairmen and the warden, will act on behalf of council if a quorum of council cannot be achieved.
That was a recommendation from a report on emergency services in the case of the H1N1 flu becoming a pandemic and causing havoc with county services.
