own council has reaffirmed its decision to take over the municipality’s committee of adjustment – but the matter is not yet completely dead.
In a somewhat unusual turn of events on Feb. 1, council unanimously passed a resolution confirming its previous decision to take over the committee, which would eliminate three members of the public from being on that committee). Then, it passed a bylaw to that effect.
But next, council passed a motion to reconsider those decisions, which passed by a 3-2 recorded vote, with councillors Barb Tocher, John Brennan, and Deb Callaghan in favour and Mayor Lou Maieron and councillor Josie Wintersinger opposed. That re-opened discussion on the matter.
“I don’t see the purpose of having another debate on this,” Wintersinger said at the outset.
Tocher replied council has had a little time to consider its previous decision. She also noted there were some good points raised during a Jan. 11 delegation from the three public members on the committee – Jeff Duncan, Neil Baldwin, and Wayne Parkinson.
Maieron disagreed, saying there was no new information presented during that meeting. He said the decision to take over should not reflect at all on the previous committee members, who have done an admiral job.
However, the mayor said having council go back on its decision makes it “appear wishy-washy – and I don’t like that.” He added he has some concerns for the future of the committee and he is comfortable with council performing its duties.
“We made a decision,” Maieron said. He proposed a motion to defer the discussion, which passed by a 3-2 vote, with Brennan and Tocher opposed. Callaghan stressed she would like to see a final decision made at council’s next meeting on Feb. 15.
“This is dragging on longer than it should have,” she said. Other councillors seemed to agree.
