A newly elected councillor for Strait Shores made a splash at Monday night’s council meeting with 12 motions put forward for consideration, many of which concerned the policies and procedures of how the municipality and its municipal council run.
Councillor Andy MacGregor was sworn in last month, but during his election campaign said he has been attending Strait Shores council meetings for two and a half years. His motions on Monday included several asking for financial statements, budgets, meeting agendas and minutes be posted on the municipality’s website. Most of those passed with some amendments, removing specific timelines for municipal staff to meet.
Council did agree to keep a timeline attached to one motion asking for a feasibility study on recording and posting videos of council meetings. The study will take place within three months of the municipality moving into its new office, which is currently being renovated at 11 East Main, in the former Gaspereau Hardware building.
Strait Shores council also passed two amended motions that call for the municipality to create bylaws on the purchasing and selling of municipal assets, and on the powers and duties of the Chief Administrative Officer.
Two motions regarding documents required to be available for public viewing at the Clerk’s office, as well as the rules surrounding closed meetings of council, did not have seconders and so died at the meeting.
Mayor Jason Stokes told MacGregor that because both of the motions duplicated word-for-word what’s already outlined in the Local Governance Act, the motions were unnecessary. “Nothing wrong per se with this,” said Stokes, “except for the fact that it’s already a thing. Anything that refers to the Local Governance Act is already the procedures that [clerk Angela Grant] follows in the office.” Stokes suggested adding a link on the Strait Shores website leading to the online version of the Local Governance Act, which clocks in at 178 pages.
At the end of Monday’s meeting, MacGregor read a statement which included a reading of sections of the Act on the powers and duties of mayor, council, clerk and CAO.
“I sit here before you tonight,” said MacGregor, “and I’m telling you that the power and the authority of the Strait Shores government rests with council. But there are some who are very firm in their opinion that the power and the authority and the Strait Shores government rests in the hands of the unelected. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
“The voters of Strait Shores voted for and elected four councillors to represent them, speak for them, and make decisions in the best interest of them, for them,” said MacGregor.
“Make no mistake, the four elected Strait Shores councillors have all the power and all the authority vested in the governance of Strait Shores,” said MacGregor. “We just have to exercise it.”
MacGregor’s statement was accepted into the minutes of the meeting, but also got the first nay vote of the night, from councillor Tanya Haynes.
