Once again Saanich council has broken their own council procedural bylaw multiple times during the Dec. 7 special council meeting. For example:
The General Rules of Conduct and Debate states: “Members shall address the Mayor as ‘Mr. Mayor or Madam Mayor’ and shall address each other as ‘Councillor’, followed by the name of the person referred to.” Mayor Haynes called Coun. de Vries by his first name multiple times during the evening.
The section on amendments to the main motion states: “Only one amendment shall be allowed at one time and shall be dealt with before the previous motion is decided. Amendments must be strictly relevant to the main motion and not alter in a material way or be contrary to the principle embodied in the main motion.”
Coun. Mersereau’s amendment on agenda item H2 clearly altered the main motion which was: “That Council postpone consideration of the application to rezone 520 Normandy Road from RS-6 (Single Family Dwelling) Zone to a site specific RM-7 (Residential Mixed) Zone to allow the applicant to reconsider the proposed density and building height and design and to address the outstanding issues noted in (in) number 6 below.”
The amendment was to delete: “reconsider the proposed density and building height and design.”
To the uninitiated who do not follow council proceedings, you may consider this trivial. Be reassured, the neighbourhood does not hold the same uniformed opinion.
Katherine Whitworth
Saanich
