Even though town hall did not list the council meeting on their website, mass attendance by the public overflowed the chambers and citizens were sitting in the hallway. Council has been asked repeatedly to have these meetings posted on their site, to no avail. Either council refuses to direct staff to do so, or the staff are insubordinate.
There was an air of uneasiness from the start of the meeting. One Councillor looked angry for the entire meeting. The meeting progressed fairly quickly, as there was little to no discussion by Councillors regarding virtually every issue. They did agree to install the fire hydrant for Europarts on the Jag’s property. This was stalled at a previous meeting. The cost of this new fire hydrant will be paid by the property owner, and there will be no cost to North Huron taxpayers.
Neil Vincent demanded that the public gallery stand and identify themselves before they dare address council. Normally people sit while they ask their questions, as the room is small and the Councillors are only a few feet away. This intimidation tactic has been used only a few times before, and only when Reeve Vincent is one of his foul, democracy killing moods. The next step will likely be to bring back the podium, or possibly try to eliminate Press and Gallery questions again.
During what is supposed to be the Public Gallery Questions and/or Comments” portion of the meeting