It’s not really surprising these days, but the minutes of Erin’s council are again under scrutiny.
Initially concerns raised by council members were minor in nature. But Mayor Lou Maieron again stated concerns with aspects of the document.
In this case, he commented on comments made by councillor Deb Callaghan who failed to declare a conflict of interest during original discussions regarding an organizational review.
Callaghan’s husband Dan Callaghan is the Erin fire chief.
Maieron’s concern was that the matter was looked at over the course of three or four meetings.
He wondered whether a legal opinion was needed regarding comments that the process had not really started and asked that the fire department discussion be separated out in the future.
Callaghan said that in the future, when any reports or documents come to the table, she would report a conflict.
However, she believed it was still possible to take part in the other discussions regarding the organizational review.
Maieron said that while there was a proposal for an organizational review – it is not moving forward in the method first described.
He considered that participating in the skeleton of the process of how things are done, then stepping aside later to separate the fire department may be considered a conflict.
Maieron said there may not be anything wrong. Part of it stems from the fact the town does not have a set way of doing things.
Councillor Barb Tocher said it would be up to Callaghan if she believed further advice was needed.
Councillor John Brennan used the analogy of creating the parameters in which the discussion can take place, but not take part in specific parts of that discussion.
Maieron said that perhaps he was splitting hairs.
He also argued against a comment that this had not affected the outcome. “I think it had a significant effect in more than one way.”
Maieron added there are still a number of issues to be dealt with in the organizational review.
