Published in TheNowNews.com
Simone Blais, Coquitlam NOW
Published: Wednesday, January 06, 2010
“A date has not yet been set for an Anmore byelection — and if something isn’t sorted out by the end of the month, the province may have to get involved.
Anmore village councillors voted 2-2 Monday on a motion that would have set March 20 as the date for a byelection to replace former mayor Hal Weinberg, who resigned in November.
Usually, such a motion is considered a rubber-stamping, since ther eis no reason anyone on council would object.
A village official could not confirm which councillors voted against the motion, saying the minutes of the meeting must first be approved by council.” continue reading the full article here.
Council Meeting Notes (written by Tracy Green):
The following is a brief and unofficial summary of the Special Council Meeting that I attended as a resident on Monday, January 4th:
A Special Council Meeting was scheduled to address several items, including the appointment of the Chief Election Officer and Deputy Election Officer for the upcoming Anmore Byelection to elect a new Mayor.
The Village of Anmore’s Manager of Corporate Services has been the Chief Election Officer for the past 7 elections and received training for this job. In what appeared to be a routine motion, Councillor Palmer-Isaak moved that this employee be appointed as the Chief Election Officer. This motion was seconded by Councillor Sedergreen.
No one on council brought forward any discussion on the item. Acting Mayor, John McEwen, called for a vote and the motion was defeated 2-2 with Councillor Piamonte and Councillor Sedergreen opposed. A tie vote is automatically defeated.
A resident asked what this would mean for the byelection. Village Administrator, Howard Carley, explained that the motion could be brought forward again or the Acting Mayor may need to approach the Ministry [of Community] if council cannot agree on a resolution over the next several weeks. Mr. Carley was also asked about the cost of hiring an outside contractor to act as a Chief Election Officer vs. using a trained staff member. Belcarra paid $3000 for a consultant to fulfill the role of Chief Election Officer at the last election and the Village of Anmore paid approximately $650 to a staff member to carry out the required duties.
Several residents asked Councillor Piamonte and Councillor Sedergreen to provide reasons for why they had not wanted to appoint a trained staff member. Councillor Piamonte stated that he didn’t feel he needed to give an explanation at this time and that he would be preparing a document at some point. Councillor Sedergreen said it was unclear whether it would cost the Village more money to use an outside consultant as a Chief Election Officer.
Discussion then went on to the next agenda item. Note: An election date cannot be called until a Chief Election Officer is appointed.
LETTERS & COMMENTS TO THE EDITORS
Subject: our election
Please post in your next letter to the editor.
Is this what democracy has come to. Our democratically elected officials show they have the right to make decisions that effect our elections and refuse to comment on the decisions when questioned by the constituents that elected them. How is this council able to address our concerns as constituents if they will not answer our questions. These actions reflect a dictatorship not a democracy. As a anmore resident I am appalled by our elected officials behaviour in there representation of our village to the constituants and to our neighbouring communities
A very disappointed,
Mark Obedzinski
Anmore Resident
A seemingly routine motion defeated without reasons. Councillors Piamonte and Sedergreen owe the residents an immediate explanation for defeating this motion. That is especially important for the councillor who seconded the motion and then voted against it.
We need to know if there is a substantial reason that an experienced and long term Village employee should not be the Chief Electoral Officer, or whether this is just small town politics at its pettiest.
I know there is no legislation in BC that allows an electorate to recall a municipal councillor but I think the actions of one or two of our councillors would result in a recall if it were possible. First there is the most recent problem with our neighbors in Port Moody, then the apparent infighting regarding our mayor, and finally this latest fiasco in appointing a Chief Election Officer.
I know there are many people in Anmore concerned about the above issues and I would encourage all of us to speak out about the unacceptable behaviour of one or two of our councilors.
Is there a recall process for councillors ?
I’m no expert, but I did a little reading tonight, and was only able to find information regarding “ethical conduct” (see http://www.cd.gov.bc.ca/lgd/gov_structure/community_charter/governance/ethical_conduct.htm). According to some of the linked documentation, there are a limited set of circumstances under which you can apply Section 111 of the Community Charter (Application to court for declaration of disqualification). This particular case doesn’t appear to qualify as a lack of ethical conduct. Again, I’m not an expert, this is simply what I understand from a casual reading.
I look forward to either Councillor Piamonte or Councillor Sedergreen substantiating their respective positions on this matter. If there were honest concerns over cost, I would have expected that to be worked out prior to a vote at a council meeting.
Thankyou Tracy for writing your council meeting notes of Jan. 4th. It is important to know what goes on at council meetings and many of us would attend more often if the meetings were not so distressing, embarrassing and generally unpleasant.
Decisions by councillors should be made in an informed way, after they have done their homework and can explain their reasoning to the public. (Did councillors Sedergreen and Piamonte know of the financial implications of their negative votes?)
When this item comes to the public attention, Anmore loses credibility and makes people wonder why we were allowed to become a village in the first place!
Until we have a mayor again the council will have trouble doing business when motions are continually being defeated by a 2vs2 vote. Delaying business is not cost effective.
Councillors McEwan and Palmer Isaak appear to be working for the village in a positive way, I wish the other two councillors would do the same.
Once again, I question the editorial integrity of Tracy Green’s reporting on what transpires in the Anmore Council meeting. As I understand, Ms Green was not even present for this topic at the Special Council Meeting held on January 4, 2010. And yet, she wrote a lengthy summary on this very topic!!!
If the residents of Anmore are interested in a particular topic on the agenda they should attend the Council meeting rather than relying solely on information based on different websites. Furthermore, the reports posted on line should provide factual information for the benefit of residents rather than opinion and spin. Anmore residents are capable of making their own minds up about issues without having their opinions ‘shaped’ by persons with vested interests.
The following are e-mail correspondences I recently conducted with Councillor Sedergreen.
I believe they express the thoughts of many concerned Anmore residents.
January 19, 2010 11:18:11 AM PST
Hello Councillor Sedergreen,
I have to tell you that my concerns with your actions as Councillor were in no way alleviated by your antics at the last council meeting – behaviour akin to the schoolyard bully.
Your decision (and that of Councillor Piamonte) to impeach a village employee in a public forum, was unprofessional, unworthy of your position, and about as petty a display of ill-placed enmity as I can imagine. Your “reasons” for doing so defy credibility.
I am certain that there are established civic processes for dealing with both staff and electoral related concerns. Sullying the reputation of a longstanding village employee in a public forum is not process. It is simply mean-spirited and unfair demagoguery.
Get to work on something positive for the Village. You would be better remembered for what you have built than what you have broken.
Bronco Cathcart
25 Birchwinde Road
Anmore, BC
On Jan 7, 2010, at 2:33 PM, Chris Sedergreen wrote:
Thank you for your enquiry. I understand your concerns. I anticipate that these will be answered at the upcoming council meeting.
Kind regards,
Cllr Chris Sedergreen.
January 7, 2010 1:56:06 PM PST
Bronco Cathcart wrote:
Hello Councillor Sedergreen ,
I am puzzled and concerned by the latest news that you and Councillor Piamonte voted against a motion by Councillor Palmer-Isaak to appoint Karen-Ann Cobb as Chief Election Officer for the impending election. I fail to understand how this decision was in anyone’s best interest.
I can see no lucid reason for what seems to be an unwarranted, if not unprecedented, action and would like to have a plausible explanation of your decision.
If your reasoning was, as reported by Camille Tribe in the Anmore Alternative News, that ” …it was unclear to Council as to whether it would be more costly to the Village to use an Independent Chief Election Officer for the by-election”, I would then have to ask why you did not raise your concern during the optional discussion period before the vote. (Ms. Tribe also reported that there was no discussion before the vote.)
Since Administrator Carley was immediately able to respond during the public question period that Karen-Ann Cobb was paid $650.00 over and above her village salary for her duties as Chief Election Officer, this information would have been as readily available during a pre-vote discussion, had you taken the initiative to ask.
As a resident of Anmore for the past 24 years I have watched the village grow from its infancy, in good ways and bad ways (in my opinion), but at least there was growth and people were working together at all levels to make the village a great place to live. As a voter and resident in Anmore, I would like some assurance that you are, by deed and not simply by lip service, acting in my best interest and that you are assisting, not impeding, the growth of Anmore as a village.
In the end, of course, actions speak for themselves. At the moment, your actions are speaking very loudly indeed and I am very uncomfortable with what I’m hearing and seeing.
I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Glen (Bronco) Cathcart
25 Birchwinde Road
Anmore BC, V3H 4Y5
Frieda, I did attend the meeting, but was 20 minutes late. I was present for the entire discussion by residents and council and only missed the actual vote at the beginning. The vote was quite straightforward and therefor it was easy to confirm who put the motion forward, who seconded and who voted for and against. Sincerely, Tracy Green