A few changes were proposed to Kincardine Council that are expected regarding the incoming council.
Corporate Services staff have proposed a few changes, namely an exemption from the Procedure By-law so the new council could meet on Wednesday, November 16th. The original by-law was set to have them first meet the first Monday after November 15th, which would put the meeting on November 21st. Staff had come to the decision that it was too late, and the first meeting could be moved up to Wednesday the 16th.
It was also proposed by staff that the procedure by-law that stated the Mayor-Elect would start the inaugural council meeting by “opening with a prayer” be removed. It’s to reflect a Supreme Court ruling, which found that to have a mayor recite a prayer would be discriminatory. Instead, municipal staff are proposing that they work with the Mayor-Elect ahead of time to decide how best to start off the inaugural meeting.
Council had also decided by committee that it didn’t make sense to cancel the scheduled meeting for Monday, October 17th. Municipal staff originally proposed the change because the meeting would take place during the voting period for the municipal election, and therefore could give some kind of advantage or present a conflict for members of the existing council who were running in the election. Council decided that it made better sense to hold the meeting as usual, as it was part of their existing term and that they were still responsible for conducting business for the Municipality of Kincardine and should continue to do so.
