COBDEN — There was discussion as to why a motion turned down at a committee meeting would come before council to be voted on.
Councillor Daryl McLaughlin requested a recorded vote on a motion to purchase a piece of equipment for which tenders had been put out for by public works manager Bill Misener. This motion was defeated at the public works committee.
When it came back to council, no words in the motion were changed, but it was noted the motion was defeated.
Councillor Charlene Jackson questioned why the motion was at council, considering it was turned down.
Chief Administrative Officer Christine FitzSimons said since it was dealt with at the committee level, council has to ratify the decision.
Coun. Jackson questioned if the wording in the motion should be changed to reflect council’s decision.
However, CAO FitzSimons said the ratification was supporting turning down the motion. If she were to reword the motion, council would not be ratifying the decision made at the committee meeting.
Coun. Jackson said if a motion is passed by the committee, council ratifies it at the next council meeting. However, if a motion is turned down at the committee level, it does not come to the council meeting.
“That has never been my understanding,” CAO FitzSimons said.
If it’s not voted on, that motion will not show up on the council minutes, she said.
Councillor Chris Olmstead said instead of discussing the motion that was not passed, why not just strike it from the table.
CAO FitzSimons said if motions from committees are not discussed by council, a council member may have changed his or her mind and the motion may have passed.
However, Coun. Jackson said the motion could come back to the committee to be discussed.
“That’s how I’ve always done it,” said Coun. Jackson, who has been working in municipal government for almost 20 years.
Coun. Olmstead suggested that if a motion does not get passed at a committee meeting, it not be brought to the council unless specifically requested.
Council agreed with Coun. Olmstead and the motion was struck from the table.
However, Coun. McLaughlin wanted to know why an item agreed to by council at budget time to be purchased was turned down at year’s end.
“It was deemed not necessary,” Mayor Johnson said.
It was not purchased last year or in time to be used this year, so it’s shown that it is not needed, he said.
Before further discussion was held, Mayor Johnson said this item was discussed at the committee level and turned down, so it will not be discussed at the council table.
