Saturday, May 23, 2009

What's up with the May 12 Council Minutes?

The minutes for the May 12 meeting have been published. However, the Minutes and the video don't match.

The is only one recorded vote recorded -- which passed 7-1 -- but the recorded vote that was passed 5-3 and has been the subject of considerable discussion seems to have disappeared. It simply says 'Carried".

How can this be? Can anyone can shed any light on this matter? Why do the Minutes not reflect what we can all see on the video?

How can this Council approve Minutes which anyone watching the tape knows is factually wrong? Is this an attempt at revising history? If the Minutes of the Town can be trusted for accuracy -- what does that say about the political process in Aurora.

The Minutes will be subject to Council scrutiny on Tuesday. Let's hope they get corrected. Stay tuned!

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24 comments:

johnny come lately said...

Thanks - just checked them out.

I Had to reread them just to see if mabe I misse something.

But nope, I didn't

The minutes are a blatant attempt by phyllis and her lackies to cover over their embarassing antics

they are not accurate - not even close. As phyllis says in the Banner article - the meeting was on TV it's "public" - so anyone can check the facts and see for themselves. She knows they are all caught. And no amount of "creative" minutes is going to save them

the more she tries to paper over this mess, the worse she makes it

first she can't do basic math
(see the hysterically funny Banner Article...Rumour has it that Phyllis was absolutely LIVID about how ridiculous she looks. Storming about the town hall, yelling and carrying on)

now we have the "formal" record that is a complete fabrication.

This council is a complete Joke

and they are destroying the professional reputations of the senior staff by blaming every new mess on them

Elizabeth Bishenden said...

There has to be a motion to approve the minutes and a vote to do so. Obviously those who think things went well will vote in favour of approving the minutes.

The rest of us get to vote in 2010.

Evelyn Buck said...

I have not watched the tape. I was there.
A person was encouraged to abuse the open forum section of Council and made a series of unfounded and unsubstantiated accusations and allegations against a councillor.

Accommodation was provided by the Mayor to have the comments appear as part of the public record.

The person was requested to provide the written copy of her comments to staff. I indicated I too would like to have a copy. It is yet to be received. to

Twice during the discussion, the town solicitor advised the matter was not for council to deal with.

No matter...the rant proceeded.

The Mayor indicated she had arranged a meeting with the Chief Administrative Officer and Solicitor for 10.30am the following morning for an "inquiry"

Afterwards, she invited a motion to direct the meeting be held. Two councillors obliged.Three others voted in support.

That meeting was apparently held and ended in fifteen minutes.

I have checked the dictionary for the definition of two words; libel and slander.

It is as I thought.

Incredulous & Appalled said...

I went to read the minutes only to find them missing. I must suppose that the 'revisionist history-style' minutes are being revised (again!) or have just been pulled from view (if I again hear that this council is "open and transparent" I'll retch)

Thank you, Aurora Citizen, for posting the particulars of this latest shameful episode. We can presume that someone with access to the Town website read your post and engineered the disappearance of the minutes (and on the weekend, at that).

What a sad and sorry state of affairs that this mayor (& her minions) require such scrutiny. Thanks again, AC, for catching this appalling development.

Anonymous said...

The minutes are IN the agenda. You have to open the agenda for the May 26th meeting of Council and then, open the agenda item (page 7).

It is very very weird that residents are being forced to search for the information.

maybe someone should ask the Council why the minutes aren't up on the website in the spot marked "minutes"

what are they hiding??????

Casting a jaundiced eye said...

Yes, you're right. they are there in Tuesday's agenda. And still in their "edited" form, just as the Aurora Citizen alerted us.

It would seem another scrambled call is in order to remove this entry, too. Talk about a job half-done. It's like the old maxim goes, "if you want a job done well, do it yourself". As cover-ups go, this is amateur hour. But considering those involved, it's hardly surprising.

To quote another old saw, " you can run but you can't hide"...

Anonymous said...

Kind of makes you wonder if someone with the time and energy were to review minutes from the past to ensure accuracy, what they might find? Pretty sad to think we've stooped to this level of distrust. Face it, this Mayor is in way over her head and isn't wise enough to recognize it. In her own paranoid world, she probably thinks she's loved by all and doing a wonderful job.

C'mon November 2010!

New_Man_in_Town said...

Without me reading all the comments about what happened on May 12th, can someone tell me whether there is any sign of an official investigation into any of this?

- Did the Mayor conspire with Ms.Kitts and was the May 12th "assault" planned? (personally I think that the answer to this is fairly obvious)

- Have the minutes to that meeting been doctored?

Who is the Mayors boss?

I myself am British and listening to the Mayors accent on the video, I am confident in saying that she probably is too - I'm embarrassed by that fact.

Junius said...

The behavior and attitude of the Mayor and Minions is absolutely appalling, and is quite beyond me. Perhaps some enlightened person can help us out.

The whole sorry May 12 meeting is on tape – viewable by the public. The fact that the printed minutes do not match the tape is readily (if tediously) verifiable. One needs to question the stability of a person who blithely carries on in such circumstances.

We all love to be armchair quarterbacks, but this strikes me as seriously delusional. But, it does help explain why in many quarters, both in and out of Aurora, we are considered a joke.

The May 26 council meeting should be quite interesting.

Anonymous said...

Wait until you see May 26th!!! Morris' Army defeated a motion that would have had staff review the video of the 19th meeting to ensure accuracy when compared with the written minutes. Morris has it defeated with her bullying tactics AND by recorded vote. What could she have possibly been afraid of? All the while, Ms St. Kitts was videotapiing the meeting. Bizarre!!! The more I see Morris, the more she reminds me of Linda Jackson, incompetent, deceitful and a legend in her mind. Morris actually believes she is doing a good job. Oh yes, add delusional.

Anonymous said...

Interesting.

The 2008 Legion event to raise “Awareness and FUNDS”. In fact it raised 9153.96 which went into the parade budget…. This years event only broke even? How much did they ask council for to hold this years parade?
After doing a bit of digging
the 2008 “Canada Day Kick-Off Party event to raise awareness and funds” had a profit of $9153.96 minus some “minor expenses”

http://www.aurorachamber.on.ca/?page=canada_day_parade1

www.town.aurora.on.ca/app/wa/doc?docId=6460

And they wanted to make this an annual event. So I guess that means it is a fund raiser every year?

Seems this isn’t the first time this lady has had “procedure waived” as well in the past….

http://www.e-aurora.ca/aurora/index.aspx?ArticleID=2255&lang=en-CA

Elizabeth Bishenden said...

On 26 May, 7 of 9 councillors voted to approve the minutes of the 12 May meeting, despite the fact that the minutes don't match what happened during the meeting.

Staff shouldn't have to consult the video. They are expected to keep accurate records through the meeting. Where are those records?

The explanations would be interesting.

Knowledgeable in Aurora said...

Just watched the opening portion of last nights meeting. What a joke! An "open and transparent Council" that uses block voting to be sure that staff can not review the minutes. If any staff member that now dares to try and make this right or comments in the future, their head will roll. This Council are masters at pushing it down onto staff in order to cover their own butts. Guess that's why so many are gone. C. Collins-Mrakas showed some real spine in trying to stand up to the Mayor and her manipulation. Too bad some of the others don't see it and support her. Seems as though Bob McRoberts has moved to his left. And by the way C. Gaertner, it is perfectly OK to address the Chair of the meeting as the Chair. The Mayor is the Mayor even when she not chairing the meeting and it is proper to acknowledge that she is also the Chair, when she is in that roll. Goodness knows she announces it enough times during the meeting that " I am in the Chair".

New_Man_in_Town said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Anonymous May 27 @ 2:30 wrote "The 2008 Legion event to raise “Awareness and FUNDS”. In fact it raised 9153.96 which went into the parade budget…. This years event only broke even. Wonder if the cost of entertainment was higher this year?

Anonymous said...

"Wonder if the cost of entertainment was higher this year?"

George asked for a raise?

lol....

Evelyn Buck said...

To New Man in Town.

Ordinarily the head of a council is subject to council's authority. In the last election, a partial slate was chosen with Mayor Morris, sufficient to form a majority.

It appears they feel obligated to stand united.Out of fear perhaps. That gives the Mayor absolute power.

We can thank Susan Walmer, organiser par excellence,for selection of the slate.

Three candidates in the race also enabled Morris' election. Twelve thousand people voted. Two thirds did not vote for that woman.

On Tuesday evening, if you watch until the end of the meeting, you
will see the town solicitor affirm at her invitation,the Mayor's assertion that as full-time Mayor, she is an employee of the town.

She was connecting that status with labour laws against harrassment.

It is a contradiction in terms for a politician to whine about being harrassed.

The Mayor and the rest have spent thousands of taxpayers' dollars on lawyers to rid her of that pesky councillor (C'est moi)

Being classified as an employee with lawful protection from harrassment seems to be her latest ploy.

Anonymous said...

"We can thank Susan Walmer, organiser par excellence,for selection of the slate."

Sounds like "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine." Get me and my slate elected, and you can be the new Environmental Coordinator or whatever she is.

Anonymous said...

Morris is clearly grasping at straws. To think as a publicly elected official you are exempt from criticism from all sides is naive to say the least. When I listen to Morris speak live, I am concerned about her health. I think she lives in a world all her own and she thinks she's doing a fabulous job. This council under her leadership (term used loosely) has taken the word "disfunctional" to a whole new level, never before seen in the Town. As I recall, that word was never used in association to our council before she arrived on the scene. It's so sad.

A Stephen Fry Fan said...

Today's BBC QI (Quite Interesting) Quote of the Day:

“Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.”
JOSEPH STALIN

Yes, it's all about the math...

An Alan Davies Devotee said...

"Yes, it's all about the math..."

So true (i.e., 5/8 < 2/3).

It's all down to fractions and factions.

Anonymous said...

What I find interesting is that there was advertising for a silent auction and items could be donated for the "The Canada Day Kick Off Party". If in fact items were donated for a silent auction, then those funds would most definitely not belong to the organizer but to the entity of which they were raised. Can anyone tell me if in fact a silent auction took place at this year's event? And if so what happened to that money? And were the individuals who donated the items advised that the funds raised would be used to off set any loss experienced by the organizer? I shall wait patiently for the answers to arrive but not with baited breath.

Have a great day!

Anonymous said...

Evelyn Buck, you wrote:
"It is a contradiction in terms for a politician to whine about being harassed."

Are you practising situational ethics? How does this statement apply to your situation, as it now stands?
Any reevaluation of your position?

Anonymous said...

The minutes of the 5/12 meeting are back up on the town's site:

http://town.aurora.on.ca/aurora/index.aspx?ArticleID=2769&lang=en-CABut all it stays, still, is that they waived the procedural bylaw "Carried".

Same sh!t, different day.