A special council meeting has been called for Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. which will break up a lengthy hiatus for the city government.
The last council meeting was a budget discussion on Wednesday, Feb 15, and the last regular council meeting was on Feb 13. The next scheduled regular meeting is March 20. Family Day took place on Monday, February 20, which eliminated that date.
Councillor Rick Dubeau expressed concern during the meeting on Feb 13
"I have just never seen a time where we've gone five weeks without a meeting," he said.
"I really can't understand how we can go five weeks without a meeting. The last time, we missed one week, when some of us went down to ROMA (Rural Ontario Municipal Association), and our agenda was huge. That's why we have deputy mayors, that's why we have a quorum in our policies," added Dubeau.
He suggested meetings should be held on Feb 21, which was the day after Family Day, as well as March 6. Dubeau said he understood that Mayor Steve Black would also be on holidays during a portion of the time. Black clarified.
"These weren't 'not' scheduled because I'm on holidays. I booked my holidays after council agreed to the meeting dates," said Black.
Dubeau thanked Black for the clarification, but said that given the current state of the city's 2017 budget, it didn't seem reasonable to take five weeks off.
"The work of council needs to go on," he said.
Black did agree that a meeting would need to be held at some point during the five week gap, especially to address the local DSSAB issues.
Several other councillors mentioned scheduling conflicts, including various board meetings, and out of country vacations.
When the vote was held for Dubeau's motion to have meetings on Feb 21, and March 6, only Dubeau and Councillor Joe Campbell voted in favor. The motion was defeated.
Black has scheduled the meeting for late Friday afternoon because "it was when all of council was available."
The agenda for the meeting includes the awarding of several tenders, a report on the state of DSSAB funding negotiations, and another update on the 'Stars and Thunder' festival.
