Funny Business?

Last night's Aurora Council meeting was really quite something. The meeting started early for a closed session. I arrived just before seven o'clock and the council was just returning to session after the in-camera bit. The Mayor announced that Council would be reporting out on the 'legal matter' but not at this time.

First of all, I have no idea why they call them in-camera when in fact they are meetings held OUTSIDE the view of the cameras. Wikipedia tells me that the term is Latin for 'in private'. Why don't they just say that? It's not very often you hear folks meandering through downtown Aurora speaking Latin.

Things progressed as I expected - the agenda was approved, everyone listed the items they wanted to discuss, and they moved to the 'meat and potatoes' part of the agenda. We listened to two delegations, one from the Aurora Seniors' Association, and one from the Habitat for Humanity folks.

It wasn't much after that we heard that Council was going to recess to obtain some 'legal advice' behind closed doors. Off they all went - into the little room in the back. Word got 'round the council chambers quite quickly that this wasn't the first time they'd done this. A few people packed up their things and went home. I stuck it out and was placing my bets with some of the other regulars on whether they'd report out or not and tell us what's going on.

I know that the town has hired a fancy lawyer to help them discover who 'leaked' information to the Auroran about the Regional Police not building a headquarters in Aurora. I've read what appear to be two opposite sides of the same coin. One letter to the editor detailed how there was never any such meeting, and another provided more details on how the police purchased some land from the town.

If the 'leak' came from someone on the council - why don't they all tell the same story?

I'm sure from the point of view of a Councillor they must see the closed sessions as the 'juicy bits'. That's when they get to talk about the disposition of town owned lands, legal matters, personnel issues with regards to corporate employees, etc. All that the public learned from the hour long in-camera meeting was that the current mayor is going to ask the previous mayor for more information regarding the telephone logs that were kept last term.

I don't know whether the previous mayor has any responsibility to the new mayor or not. I strongly doubt it. That would be very similar to a previous employer of mine calling me to ask for information on something that transpired during my employment. Mayors are elected officials, just like councillors. Is a previous councillor obligated to share what they know with the community at large, or the current council? I don't think so.

One thing I'm certain of is that last night the roads were sloppy and the temperature was threatening to drop and turn the roads into skating rinks. I had the choice to leave whenever I wanted to - but I certainly feel bad for all the people who were required to stay there - reporters, the camera team from ACI, and all the town employees.

I'm truly enjoying this political hobby of mine. If it weren't for the signs at the town hall that announce that no food or drink is allowed in the council chamber - I'd bring popcorn, every Tuesday!