Council facing possible return of downsizing debate
Posted Aug 16, 2010 06:26:04 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The deputy mayor is bringing the “size” issue back to Halifax Regional Council for debate tomorrow.
If two thirds of the members agree, the vote to maintain the status quo will be rescinded and councillors will once again be asked to consider downsizing.
Coun. Brad Johns (Middle-Upper Sackville-Lucasville) says he’s not convinced the vote earlier this month was a true reflection of the feelings of council, so he wants to revisit again this week.
“Council has had two weeks now since they’ve debated this,” he said. “They’ve had an opportunity to listen to residents in the coffee shops, on the phone, on the talk shows, they’ve had an opportunity to see where people are at with this, so maybe there’s an opportunity to just have a second look at it.”
Johns says he decided to add the item to the agenda after hearing from his own constituents – but also some fellow councillors.
“One said that he voted the wrong way, one fella said he didn’t support 20 but if he’d known 23 was going to pass he would hae supported 20, two councillors weren’t there,” he said. “So when I started talking to a number of people, it started to look more and more like there might be the numbers that would prefer to see it changed.”
At least one councillor says she hasn’t changed her mind – and says there’s no point revisiting the issue for what could be another lengthy debate.
“Are we going to do this every time we have a vote that we don’t like?” said Coun. Gloria McCluskey (Dartmouth Centre.) “Are we going to operate like that for the rest of the term? They’re not happy with the decision, so let’s move a motion of recission and go through it again and make this council look stupid.”
Unless sixteen councilors agree, the motion to rescind won’t pass and the vote to keep all 23 councilors plus the mayor will stand.
