Procedural issues at municipal councils often mean wrangling about the finer points of the rules – but one arose here on March 27 that nobody had ever seen before.
The previous meeting, councillor Neil Driscoll presented a notice of motion. Such notices are a politeness that inform other councillors something is coming for them to think about.
Driscoll’s motion was “that the township directs staff to request that the chief building official provide immediate notice to the township, through the chief administrative officer/clerk, of any applications for building permits submitted by NextEra so that the township can, at that time, review the application in the context of other required approvals for the wind turbine project.”
When councillors present such motions, nothing more can be done or even spoken about them until the next meeting.
But clerk Patty Sinnamon said she was forced to look through a number of procedural rule books about this one and never really did find a definitive answer – because Driscoll was unable to attend the council meeting.
The normal way to handle such notices is the person presenting it moves it and hopes someone will second it. If nobody does, the motion is dead immediately. If someone does, then it can be debated and voted on.
In this case, Sinnamon suggested two other willing councillors could move and second Driscoll’s motion. Two did, and with no debate at all, it passed unanimously.
More to come
After council completed that part of its agenda, it considered other notices of motion.
Mayor Bruce Whale had two. He will present motions to bring back for debate two recently defeated decisions of council. One was to close up and sell Nelson Street in Rothsay to help correct an error made by the township when it issued a building permit a few years ago. The other dealt with lots near Glen Allan and their frontage using the unopened portion of Sideroad 16.
They will be considered when council meets again on April 10 at 7pm.
