Red Herrings
At this week's council meeting, there was successful deployment of the red herring strategy to avoid an issue. It was so successful that the local paper reported extensively on the herring, completely distracted from the issue at hand.
The issue was the motion made by one councillor to cancel council and executive meetings before the end of the term in October, claiming that because the civic election is held that month, it would then be the “silly season”, so council shouldn't bother meeting. The current mayor did this for the last election, as well, although previous councils have been able to manage to keep on doing the work that they are paid for, as well as carry on with the personal work of campaigning.
I objected to this. In effect, council has given itself extra paid vacation, so that those who are running for re-election can focus on that, rather than on working for their full term. And for those who have decided to not let their names stand, well, they get to leave work early, with pay.
The fact is, the city runs twelve months of the year, and issues are ongoing. I think that the most important work of council, the open discussion of issues and solutions, happens at council meetings, when the public has the best opportunity to see its representatives at work.