First meeting of newly elected Charlottetown Council marked by confusion and debate

Monday night's first meeting of the newly elected Charlottetown council has left Mayor Phillip Brown disappointed.

Not much was decided during the meeting with the exception of whowould sit on the Council Advisory Committee.

Selectionprocess

The advisory committee is to include the mayor, two councillors and the chief administrative officer in a non-voting capacity. The committee's objective is to determine the terms of reference for all ad hoc and standing committees.

The advisory committee recently brought in by a new procedural bylaw is required under the Municipal Government Act.

The procedural bylaw was implemented earlier in December.

Deciding which councillors would sit on the committee did not come easily as confusion over the selection process had councillors in disagreement.

The procedural bylaw stipulates two council members should be nominated and appointed by a motion of council.

Councillor Bob Doiron submitted a motion to nominate Alanna Jankov and Jason Coady on Thursday.

Confusion and disagreement

Mayor Brown wanted to vote on councillor Doiron's motion without accepting further nominations from the floor.

This had some councillors arguing that the procedural bylaw allows for councillors to submit nominations from the floor. Mayor Brown disagreed.

"If councillor Doiron put those names in three or four days ago that's fine and those names would still stand, but you would still have opportunity to offer names from the floor," said councillor Terry Bernard.

Councillor Bernard called for the opinion of both CAO Peter Kelly and the city's lawyer.

Following some deliberation, both agreed that nominations should be taken from the floor. Council voted and agreed.

'Veteran councillors'

In addition to Alanna Jankov and Jason Coady who had been nominated already by councillor Doiron, Mike Duffy and Terry MacLeod were nominated as well.

Councillors Duffy and MacLeod won the vote. The decision disappointed the mayor, who had his sights on a win for councillors Jankov and Coady.

For Brown the names submitted by councillor Doiron, "represented geographic diversity, gender equality and a mixture of the old and the new," he said.

"What we voted on tonight is two veteran councillors two males and I just wanted to have a mix to give some new ideas," Brown said.

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