Just when you thought the gong show couldn’t get any worse…it did. Last night’s meeting consisted of 5 agonizing hours of arguing, confusion and disorganization. There were a number of times throughout the 5 hour meeting that it was clear that members didn’t even know what they were voting on…until it was too late.
The First Two Hours…
The first two hours of the meeting were devoted to naming the Lanes that are throughout the Town, starting with the downtown core. The Honours Committee recommended names for each of the lanes based on public input as well as historical significance. The purpose of this process was apparently to “simplify”. Well, this proved to be quite the opposite of a “simple” process. Virtually none of the recommendations from the Honours Committee were adopted….so my question is, why did they spend all of their (volunteer) time working on this? If Council’s intention was to come up with their own names for everything anyways, in my humble opinion, they wasted this committee’s valuable time.
One of the arguments in favour of this change is that now there will be a lane name that people can use when calling emergency services to “make it less confusing”….and yet one of the lane’s has now been named “Back Lane”. Yup folks….Back Lane. That should ease the confusion…Imagine this call –
911 Operator – “911, what’s your emergency?”
Caller – “There is a fire/emergency in my Back Lane”
911 Operator – “Ok, Which lane is that?”
Caller – “Back Lane”
911 Operator – “I understand that it is in your back lane…what is the name of your back lane…”
Caller – “Back Lane”…..
Phew….I am so glad that we cleared up all of that confusion. {insert sarcasm font}
The original comments from the Fire Department stated that if the naming of lanes was going to happen, they were recommending that continuous lanes have the same name from one end to the other rather that separate names for each section of that lane. Yet, after 2 hours of exhausting discussion about the downtown lanes, Council came back from break and put forward a motion to accept all of the names in the recommendation from the Honours Committee for the Montgomery Village Lanes….meaning, that they didn’t take the recommendations of the Fire Department.
Hours 3, 4 and 5
It has become quite clear inside Council Chambers that we have entered an election year. The sheer amount of unnecessary discussion for items that didn’t require any was mind-blowing. As an example, the portion of the agenda called ‘Committee Minutes’ is there just to “receive” – A simple vote of “yes” indicates that you did indeed receive a copy of those minutes. Instead of a “yes” to acknowledge they had received copies of the minutes, some members of Council used this as an opportunity to discuss areas of these committees and boards that they have issue with.
Councillor Kidd thought it the perfect time to AGAIN bring to light HIS ideas of where the new bus depot should go – Councillor Kidd, if you feel that way, attend a Transit Committee Meeting and share your thoughts! While other members of Council deemed it appropriate to rehash the OPP/OPS argument. You know, the very one that was voted on and completed back on June 12th, 2017 – 8 months ago….Councillor Bradley, we KNOW that you were in favour of bringing in the OPP. If you have concerns about the Police Service or anything in the minutes from their meetings, attend the public portion of the Police Services Board Meetings.
Councillor Kidd also thought this would be the appropriate time to let all of Orangeville know just how many Committees he has in his portfolio – just in case you forgot…And this was apparently also the time to call out Councillor Garisto for being on Committees that don’t even have meetings.
Ladies and Gentlemen….your Orangeville Town Council.
For all of you on Council who feel that Council Chambers is a great place to start your campaign, please don’t. Instead, why don’t you spend the next few months being productive…being respectful…doing your job. Feel free to toot your own horn – ON YOUR CAMPAIGN BROCHURES.
Amalgamation of Services
Councillor Garisto put forward a motion on Monday night to have The County of Dufferin investigate the possibility of amalgamating Fire, Police and Library Services to a County-Wide model to possibly save money. Garisto’s request was met with a resounding “No” from the majority of Council – he only had the support of Mayor Williams for this request.
It was noted by some of the opposing Councillors that an item of this magnitude should not be brought up towards the end of a Council term and that it would be more appropriate at the beginning of a term also noting that there was the opportunity for savings with the OPP that Councillor Garisto voted against.
In my humble opinions, the notion of County-Wide services could work. However, my issue is that when it is brought up simply as a way for Orangeville to save some money, that is the wrong approach. Why would smaller municipalities want to take on the cost of Orangeville? Amalgamated services could work if there is a focus on enhanced services at a comparable rate. Do you think an amalgamation could work?
Notice of Motion
Councillor Garisto also put forward a ‘Notice of Motion’ which will come to the next meeting. He is intending to put forward a motion to eliminate the position of Deputy Mayor on the election ballot to instead have that position filled with either the Councillor candidate who receives the highest number of votes OR having that position appointed by the Mayor.
Huh???
I am a little confused. So, if a candidate for Councillor has the highest number of votes, but no interest in becoming Deputy Mayor, they could end up in that position anyways? Or a candidate who would have run for Deputy Mayor if given the opportunity may end up as a Councillor because they weren’t the “chosen one” by the Mayor?
Next Council Meeting
The next meeting of Council is scheduled for Monday, March 5th at 7pm at Town Hall.