Adam Bramburger
Beaver Staff
For the first time in memory, the incoming Lennox and Addington County council may not be starting its year in office with an invocation as part of its inaugural meeting this December.
At its working session meeting Wednesday, council directed staff to draft a new procedural bylaw for consideration July 25. The bylaw would scrap the practice which often saw a religious official present to deliver a prayer or appeal for spiritual guidance.
It would appear Fr. Marek Chochrek of Napanee’s St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church was the last to deliver the message in 2017.
In its place, the County will play a video rendition of the national anthem.
“We’re suggesting we do “O Canada” at the inaugural. The video we have plays music, but it also shows pictures of Canada. I find it inspirational myself,” said chief administrative officer Brenda Orchard.
Councillor Ric Bresee asked whether another change the County has contemplated will be ready to debut alongside the newly elected council at the end of this year.
“I remember discussions with regard to an introduction recognizing an Aboriginal territory, that kind of terminology. Do you think we’ll have that prepared for the inaugural meeting?” he asked.
Orchard said upon council’s direction after it received a letter from resident Tom Derrick requesting such a statement, staff spoke with the province to get its input on a statement and it received input that shaped the acknowledgement. She then took it to Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte chief administrative officer David Souliere, who offered feedback and committed to consult with Chief R. Donald Maracle and his council.
“We wanted to make sure we were actually being respectful while trying to be respectful,” Orchard said.
She indicated staff plans to have the affirmation ready to bring forward with the intent of using it at the inaugural meeting. Orchard added council would have to decide it if intends to offer the acknowledgement at only the inaugural meeting or at each of its public sessions.
The inaugural meeting change came as part of a customary end-of-term review of council’s procedural bylaw. The proposed bylaw is also expected to include new conflict of interest rules and changes to council’s committee structures.
The addition on conflict of interest suggests that any council or committee member disclosing direct or indirect pecuniary interest to do with a matter for consideration, he or she must file a written statement of the interest with the County clerk or committee secretary. Those disclosures are to be recorded in the minutes of a meeting and a registry shall be maintained and made available to the public.
Also, in a closed meeting, any member declaring conflict will be asked to leave the meeting or the portion of the meeting dealing with the matter in question.
The composition of the accessibility advisory committee has been changed from the present two councillors, four members of the community with disabilities and one member of the community involved in business to two members of council and three members of the community with disabilities.
The bylaw change would also introduce a limit of four two-year terms for the community members and reduces the number of meetings in a given year from three-to-four to two-to-three times a year.
Like the accessibility advisory committee, the economic development coalition would also see the number of two-year terms for its members capped at four.
Councillor Marg Isbester asked why staff felt the need to cap the number of terms an individual can serve.
Clerk Tracey McKenzie said the change would allow fresh voices to emerge.
“We have had some times were it has become a bit stale. We have had members be on a committee for 12 years,” she said.
Isbester said it’s difficult to get volunteers now and she wondered what would happen if no one applied to replace a person who had reached his or her term limit. McKenzie said since council has authority over the committees, staff could simply come back to council and ask for an exemption to the limit.
Councillor Ric Bresee said he’s supportive of the change, but wondered if any current volunteers would be impacted by the change. McKenzie told him the intention would be to start with appointments by the new council this fall and work forward.
“It’s not fair to somebody to go back in time and count the back time,” she said.
No such limit applies for council appointees to committees.
In other council news Wednesday…
– Council reacted to the likelihood it will be in a lame-duck position following the close of election nominations July 27 by directing staff to prepare a bylaw for consideration July 25. It would give Lowry the authority to recruit, hire, or terminate a chief administrative officer and give the chief administrative officer final signing authority over expenditures outside the budget exceeding $50,000 or the disposition of property valued at over $50,000. The bylaw would only come into effect if there was certainty the new council would include less than 75 per cent of the current members after nomination day.
According to a report by McKenzie, lame duck comes into effect if there’s a certainty that three-quarters of council would not be returning to office. In that instance, council’s powers would be limited in that it could not appoint or remove officers of the municipality or hire or dismiss staff or make any expenditures or disbursements above $50,000. The chief administrative officer already has authority over personnel matters for the County, so the powers in question deal exclusively with the chief administrative officer position and the financial restriction.
If six or more councillors put their names forward to run in their lower-tier municipalities, lame duck would not apply July 27, and if six or more were acclaimed, there would be no need for a lame-duck period at all. If after the Oct. 22 election, fewer than six councillors are re-elected, a lame-duck period would run until the inaugural meeting, Dec. 12.
At present, Isbester and Bresee are slated to run in contested races for mayor in Greater Napanee and Loyalist respectively; Eric Smith and John Wise are the only candidates slated to run for reeve and deputy-reeve in Stone Mills; and Henry Hogg is running to maintain reeveship in Addington Highlands. Lowry, of Loyalist, and Gord Schermerhorn, of Greater Napanee have stated they will not run. Helen Yanch has not yet filed in Addington Highlands.