I wonder what motivated the Mayor to put forward a Mayoral Minute (a penchant of his) to publish the attendance (or lack of) of all Councillors at Council Meetings, briefing sessions and Council Committees, and to have that information backdated to September 2012? (Council was elected in September 2012) Strange, considering that during his term as a Councillor (2008-12), he too missed many Council Committee Meetings, briefing sessions, and rarely attended Community Forums, Residents Action Groups or IHAP and JRPP meetings. Also strange is that Councils Annual report of 2013-14 did not show that information, only Council Meetings, yet all Committees and briefing session attendances were published in the 2011-12 Annual Report, was that to embarrass certain Councillors?
Unfortunately the vast majority of Councils’ Committee Meetings for the past 3 years have been scheduled during the day, except Council briefing sessions, why? Was it to make it difficult for some Councillors that have daytime job commitments? Keep in mind the Mayor chose to be full time, his only job, unlike the majority of Councillors that are committed to normal daytime jobs to earn their living, although that appears not to have mattered for the past 3 years, possibly because several Liberal Councillors enjoy flexible working hours, so why is it a concern now?
Another interesting point is that every one of those Committees is stacked by a majority of Liberal Councillors ostensibly to ensure a desired outcome. There is also the unusual requirements for Committee quorums, usually a quorum means half the voting members plus 1, that is rarely the case, often it is considerably less than half. Few Committees have non Liberal Councillors as voting members which makes it somewhat irrelevant for non-voting Councillors to attend. They have little if any influence on the outcome of matters discussed, nor are their comments or objections recorded.
I believe it is hypocritical to put forward such a Motion particularly as a Mayoral Minute. So what motivated that move? Could it be that it is highlighting several of his team’s apparent lack of attendance at Committee Meetings and briefing sessions because they have questioned his style of leadership? Few non-Liberal Councillors attend day time committee meeting, that has been the norm for the past 7 years, so why bring it up now? Interesting times ahead!
PS, as the only Independent (LCIT) Councillor I attend more meetings than any other Councillor and have done so for my 3 terms of Council.