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Integrity commissioner Peggy Lovelace of E4m municipal advisors, which is retained by Cobalt council, attended a special meeting of Cobalt council Thursday, March 7 where she strongly advised council to stop bringing in resolutions at the last minute. By doing so, the staff is not given enough time to prepare background information, she pointed out.
She also spoke about a request Councillor Doug Wilcox made for information on the contract of one of the town employees. It was explained that some council members wanted the information in order to decide whether another employee should be hired on staff, as one person is leaving. A hiring freeze was being suggested.
Lovelace told council that they are not privy to the contract of any town employee other than that of the town manager.
Mayor Angela Adshead said council had already given approval for the hiring of another person, and town manager Steven Dalley also stated that he had received direction from council to apply for government funding support (50 percent) for the intern position.
The decision to purchase a new fire truck is causing budget concerns for council, along with other costs. A hiring freeze might keep costs contained, it was suggested by Wilcox.
Councillor Angela Hunter, speaking at the March 5 meeting where a possible hiring freeze was being discussed, also supported the hiring of another person. “The work has to get done,” she said.
Councillor Pat Anderson commented, “A new person has to be trained,” she said. It is not possible to have someone come into the position without previous training “and take over fully and do the job accurately,” she said.
Dalley commented, “By putting a hiring freeze, services will suffer immediately.” He added that it would also impact the morale of the staff.
A special meeting was called March 7 to discuss the proposed hiring freeze, and Wilcox proposed that the proposal could be deferred until he had an opportunity to look at the information he had requested.
Lovelace spoke at the second of two March 7 special meetings and asked council to suspend the section of their procedural bylaw which allows council members to introduce motions at the last minute. She said she had observed several instances where that has occurred since July. “I think it’s absolutely inappropriate that you bring matters to the table that staff have not had time to address then expect a decision to be made that evening.”
She said it was her recommendation that nothing should “be added to an agenda at an open meeting unless there is an absolute urgent reason.”
She also censored Wilcox for the wording used in a communication with staff. Rather than a request for information, the wording was “please ensure all information pertaining to…” She pointed out that is a direction, and not a request. The direction was also copied to the remainder of the council, which “is a very threatening thing for staff because it feels like a council decision,” she said. “Any time you want information from the town manager, it needs to come to this table, and a resolution has to be passed.”
Council passed a motion to suspend that section of the procedural bylaw. Wilcox opposed it but all other members supported it. (Hunter was absent at the March 7 meeting and so did not participate in the vote.)
Lovelace also reminded council that if they are not comfortable with what they are being asked to consider at the council table at any time, they have the right to say no and ask for it to be brought back at a future meeting.
She noted that motions added at the last minute also prevent the public from being aware of the topic, when they might have wanted to provide feedback on the matter, but with last-minute motions, they do not have that opportunity.
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