Councillor Ron Paull opened Tuesday night’s meeting (Nov 5) with the following statement…
“Those close to me know that, for me, anger is virtually non-existent. I sincerely apologize to my Council colleagues, to staff and to those in the gallery for my unruly behavior at last week’s Council meeting, I am sorry.”
Paull was expelled by Mayor Bob Simpson, who refused to let him speak on the portion of his report about live streaming Council meetings, which was not an item on the approved agenda.
Paull also continued to try to speak to it without being recognized as “having the floor” by the Chair of the meeting, who was in this case the Mayor.
City Manager Byron Johnson talked about why the apology was necessary…
“This chamber, as everyone knows, works best and is much more effective when the rules of conduct are followed. Once a topic has been voted on it is closed. This is consistent with Council Procedure Bylaw, although the Chair does have some discretion. A discussion about reports being not modified was not an approved agenda item for discussion.”
Johnson added that, as per the Community Charter and the Council Procedure Bylaw, the presiding member or the Chair, is in control of the meeting…
“Their decisions or rulings pertaining to the meeting conduct must be respected. Councillor Paull should have left the meeting immediately after being expelled by the Chair. That breached the following rules, Community Charter Section 133 regarding expulsion from a meeting, Council Procedure Bylaw 1859 and there are numerous points between sections 17 and 20, and Council Code of Conduct sections two, three, four and five.”
In the end, Council unanimously voted to accepted the apology and now considers the matter closed.
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