I would like to have a vote on this...and am still attempting to find a way.
As an elected member of Oshawa Council I am 100% in support of voting 'yes' to allow citizens to speak to Council.
The City Clerk has written two individuals that their delegation requests for the Monday June 24th Council meeting are denied as certain sections of the Council Procedural By-law preclude them from speaking to Council.
I wrote the Clerk stating I personally have no objection to them speaking and asked why the rules of Procedure could not be waived to allow a 2/3rds vote of Council to hear.
The Clerk responded citing two sections in the By-law (which relate to timing of less than a year after a Council decision, and the subject matter of the delegations) as ultimately not permitting a waiving of the rules to allow Council to vote on hearing these delegations.
As I believe there should be a way to make an appeal to Council
I wrote back the following:
"The Region of Durham allows suspension of its Procedural By-law as follows:
APPLICATION
2.1 The Rules of Procedure contained in this By-law shall be observed in all proceedings of Council and shall be the rules for the order and dispatch of business in Council, and, where applicable, in a Committee or in the Committee of the Whole.
2.2 Despite Section 2.1 of this By-law, the Rules of Procedure may be suspended by a two-thirds majority vote.
And the City of Oshawa Procedural By-law states under section 3 INTERPRETATION:
Subsection 4 “If there is a conflict between two or more rules established by this By-law, or if there is no specific rule on a matter, the Chair will determine a rule.”
Would this apply since it seems the City of Oshawa’s Procedural By-law has no specific rule on suspending the By-law?"
I asked for the City's solicitors on this question. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds tomorrow.
Why bother some may ask...well, imo public access to speaking to Council is essential to ensuring local government is open and accountable. And yes, my opinion is also shaped by my personal experience. As a private citizen, from 2008 on, the number of times my neighbours and I would go to Council, attempting to protect over 1,200 acres of Oshawa farmland, and sit and wait, only to have our request to speak voted down, was extremely off-putting and made my resolve stronger to see better municipal governance.
That personal experience outweighs my recent experience as a Councillor being spoken to with dripping condescension and insult by one of the two people now making the delegation request. The way I see it, agreeing or disagreeing is human nature, but voicing our opinions is what makes us human, how we learn and key, albeit sometimes with momentous backlash and/or missteps, to humanity's progress.
As an elected member of Oshawa Council I am 100% in support of voting 'yes' to allow citizens to speak to Council.
The City Clerk has written two individuals that their delegation requests for the Monday June 24th Council meeting are denied as certain sections of the Council Procedural By-law preclude them from speaking to Council.
I wrote the Clerk stating I personally have no objection to them speaking and asked why the rules of Procedure could not be waived to allow a 2/3rds vote of Council to hear.
The Clerk responded citing two sections in the By-law (which relate to timing of less than a year after a Council decision, and the subject matter of the delegations) as ultimately not permitting a waiving of the rules to allow Council to vote on hearing these delegations.
As I believe there should be a way to make an appeal to Council
I wrote back the following:
"The Region of Durham allows suspension of its Procedural By-law as follows:
APPLICATION
2.1 The Rules of Procedure contained in this By-law shall be observed in all proceedings of Council and shall be the rules for the order and dispatch of business in Council, and, where applicable, in a Committee or in the Committee of the Whole.
2.2 Despite Section 2.1 of this By-law, the Rules of Procedure may be suspended by a two-thirds majority vote.
And the City of Oshawa Procedural By-law states under section 3 INTERPRETATION:
Subsection 4 “If there is a conflict between two or more rules established by this By-law, or if there is no specific rule on a matter, the Chair will determine a rule.”
Would this apply since it seems the City of Oshawa’s Procedural By-law has no specific rule on suspending the By-law?"
I asked for the City's solicitors on this question. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds tomorrow.
Why bother some may ask...well, imo public access to speaking to Council is essential to ensuring local government is open and accountable. And yes, my opinion is also shaped by my personal experience. As a private citizen, from 2008 on, the number of times my neighbours and I would go to Council, attempting to protect over 1,200 acres of Oshawa farmland, and sit and wait, only to have our request to speak voted down, was extremely off-putting and made my resolve stronger to see better municipal governance.
That personal experience outweighs my recent experience as a Councillor being spoken to with dripping condescension and insult by one of the two people now making the delegation request. The way I see it, agreeing or disagreeing is human nature, but voicing our opinions is what makes us human, how we learn and key, albeit sometimes with momentous backlash and/or missteps, to humanity's progress.