It was a startling beginning to Monday’s City Council meeting, as three city councilors abruptly walked out after the first motion.
Councilors Ron Matechuk, Duncan Wong, and Judy Kolada voted in favor of tabling Monday’s agenda for a later date after only being issued the agenda that morning. The Mayor and other councilors voted against, which led to the walkout.
In statements from all three councilors, they cited Section 44 of the City of Thompson Organizational and Procedural By-Law as the reason for the motion to table the agenda.
The by-law reads: “A draft agenda of each Regular Meeting of Council, together with copies of supporting materials shall be provided to the members of Council by 4:30 pm Friday preceding the Regular Meeting of Council. A copy of the draft Agenda shall also be posted at City Hall and on the City of Thompson Website not later than 4:30 pm Friday preceding the meeting in a location accessible for viewing by the Public.”
Mayor Dennis Fenske later countered that argument with Sections 51 and 52 of that same by-law.
“Through the Organization By-Law that we have in place, we can’t actually cancel a regularly scheduled meeting without serving 48 hours notice, so we wouldn’t have been able to cancel the meeting anyway.”
The next regularly scheduled council meeting will be held March 28th beginning at 7 pm.
