Council split on Mayor’s Implementation Team debate

By Mo Cranker

BELLEVILLE – Belleville city council has voted to add Coun. Kelly McCaw to the Mayor’s Implementation Team, but shot down a motion to expand the team to five members.

During Monday’s council meeting, McCaw brought forward a motion that the Mayor’s Implementation Team should be opened up to all councillors that wanted to be in on the discussions. The council members and mayor turned down the motion with a vote of six to three.

The motion was defeated because if five or more members of council attend a meeting it becomes a regular council meeting. There are currently three members outside of McCaw on the team. They are Jack Miller, Garnet Thompson and Taso Christopher. Council meetings with more than five people need a clerk present at all times.

Later during the council meeting, a member of council put forth the motion that McCaw be added to the mayor’s implementation team. The vote was tied at four votes to four when Mayor Taso Christopher voted in favour, breaking the stalemate.

McCaw told QNet News that she is happy to be a part of the implementation team, but it does not solve the problem nor was it her intended outcome.

“This is not about me. It’s about all of council having the opportunity so all of us should be entitled not just me. I was looking out for everyone and to add transparency.”

Now that she is on the team, McCaw said that she is going to look bring a fresh voice and some changes to the meetings.

“Having these meetings at 7:30 in the morning is not in the best interest of the public. Most people are on their way to work at 7:30 in the morning,” she said. “I hope to bring forward an actual recording device, where I can record the meetings and find a way to take the whole MIT meeting and send it to each individual (council) member that is interested in having it.”

One of the council members that voted against McCaw’s motion to open up the mayor’s implementation team is Garnet Thompson. He said he voted ‘no’ to ensure efficiency on the team.

“Last night I voted against it,” said Thompson. “A lot of our committees have three members. There’s really no issue. When we pick that number it seems to work very well.”

Although he voted against McCaw’s initial motion, and the motion to add McCaw to the team, Thompson said he is happy to have her at all of the meetings.

“Last night the decision was made to move to four and I’m quite happy with that. I can work with one, two, three or four people, it doesn’t matter,” he said.

First year councillor Mitch Panciuk voted in favour of McCaw’s motion Monday night but voted against adding McCaw to the team.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction, but it still excludes more people than it includes. There’s five of us that still cannot attend the meetings. I still voted against (adding McCaw to the implementation team), because I believe that every councillor has the right to the information and to sit in on those meetings,” he said.

McCaw said she will continue to push for the opening of the mayor’s implementation team and that this is not the last that Belleville will hear of the motion.

“I want the citizens of Belleville to know and be confident that we have the correct information when we need it to make the important decisions. A resolution may not come overnight, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to stop working towards inclusion of everyone that has an interest in it,” she said.