By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Mayor Lucas Cleveland, having declared Wednesday’s council meeting would not go past 11:30 p.m., continued past that point with a heated 15 minutes of personal back-and-forth with council members.
A controversial notice of motion was being debated, when Councillor Brian Darling piped up, “The meeting’s over. It’s 11:30.”
“We are ending the meeting then – meeting adjourned!” Cleveland declared.
The subject of the debate was Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty’s notice of motion calling for clearer guidelines on public input into the budget process, which has changed radically this year due to new Strong Mayor Powers.
Cleveland asked Beatty why she hadn’t simply scheduled an appointment with him to clarify what avenues might be available to these citizens.
“Our ability to communicate has become fractured – I can’t meet with you one-on-one any more,” she replied.
The temperature of the debate had risen significantly when Councillor Adam Bureau’s amendment calling for the records of the mayor’s corporate credit card to be made public was eventually defeated, as was his call for an accounting of all costs to date that had resulted from changes wrought by the Strong Mayor Powers (such as the consultant unilaterally hired to organize an advisory task force to help him set the budget).
The mayor’s peremptory adjournment was corrected by Municipal Clerk Brent Larmer, who reminded him that a proper motion had to be made that included what would be done with any unfinished business on the agenda. Beatty made the motion to refer her notice of motion to a future meeting once – as the mayor insisted – a legal opinion had been rendered on it.
Still dissatisfied, Cleveland demanded a recorded vote for the motion, casting the only vote against. And though he had been in a hurry to adjourn on the dot of 11:30, he remained at his post, accusing councillors of raising the costs of the budget process with their faulty understanding of Strong Mayor rules, particularly Beatty
“You make accusations all the time! Just stop it,” Beatty demanded, saying she would no longer engage.
It didn’t stop the mayor’s accusations that she was painting him as manipulative.
“What is happening right now is harassment,” Councillor Miriam Mutton declared.
“I would suggest you be very careful throwing the term ‘harassment’ around,” Cleveland said.
“She answered your question, and you have repeatedly come after her,” Mutton insisted.
“Can we just move on? We need to move on,” Bureau said.
“Respect my boundaries,” Beatty said.
“Councillor Mutton, thank you very much. Respect my boundaries, Mr. Mayor. There have been times you won’t answer my question. I am not recanting.”
“I think it’s really important we talk about this,” Cleveland persisted.
“It’s nice that Mr. Bureau would like to move on, but Mr. Bureau wasn’t included in a comment that I am violating my code of conduct,” he said, referring to his belief that the Deputy Mayor had characterized him as manipulative.
“File an integrity complaint against me,” she challenged.
“This is absolutely ridiculous,” Bureau muttered, rising and walking away.
The mayor then called a vote on the motion to adjourn, and councillors began to disperse at 11:44 p.m.
