Louise Smith - Mike Dunn in Drag
While millions seem to be worried about California permitting same-sex marriage, we should look inward. Barrieland may hold the distinction of having the first drag queen as city council president. While I apologize for not knowing the current politically correct term, there is a strong possibility (nay, probability) that former council president Mike Dunn put on a wig and glasses, and got elected AGAIN.
During Mike’s term, no one like to change the council rules more. Now we have Louise (or should I say Mike) back at it. At Monday’s Salisbury Council work session, a new resolution to change the council rules was on the agenda. When this matter reaches a legislative sessions citizens will be able to see that these rules have already been amended TEN TIMES!
Are the rule changes necessary? Of course not.
Why the need for ANOTHER change? Louise was given her marching orders that there would be no more introduction of ANONYMOUS letters read into the record. Second, Louise and her cohorts want to limit debate by Councilwomen Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen to five minutes each.
The citizens of Salisbury are faced with another individual holding the gavel who is so obtuse that they can’t read their own rules. If they bothered they would note several things. First of all, the council rules - as presently adopted - only permit the introduction of material or testimony into the record with a vote of the majority of council.
As for limiting debate, there is already one provision in the council’s standing order (their “Rules of Order”) as well as a variety of tools available to Louise and her dirty little guild through Robert’s Rules of Order. Of course this would require a little studying on Louise’s part and that ain’t gonna happen!
Rules of a parliamentary assembly, like the Salisbury City Council, are supposed to protect several parties: the majority, the minority and those participating through observation. The public needs to be assured that all parties are participating on a level playing field. However, there need be no concern for that in the fascist state of Barrieland.
Do Louise, et al have a right to feel abused by the minority? Yes. My friends Debbie and Terry may never speak to me again, but they do tend to be repetitive. They can be unnecessarily long winded. They also waste far too much time apologizing for, and excessively explaining, their actions.
They should ask their questions, DEMAND answers, and be done with it.
Louise, however, is incapable of running a meeting. Hell, I’d give her lessons if that’s what it took. NO ONE at that table has a clue what the rules are, including City Clerk Brenda Colegrove. If they did, there would be NO DEBATE or EXPLANATION of vote on consent items. Ms. Dunn would enforce her own CODE of CONDUCT. Ms. Dunn would then only permit discussion that was truly germane to the legislation at hand. There would be NO points of personal privilege (no such right exists, but a member may ask a “Question of Privilege” - which is different). The list goes on … and on. In fact, if Ms. Dunn had a clue she would amend the council’s standing orders to have one item only - “All meetings of this body will be governed by the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised. There she would find that the majority, the minority AND the public are all protected. She could easily achieve her stated goals without appearing to be some kind of black shirted throw back to the 1930’s.
But Ms. Dunn can’t do that. Instead, she is under the false assumption that her gavel gives her near dictatorial powers, bordering on those of the Queen of Barrieland herself. She is wrong. If she did her job, a great deal of these problems would simply disappear into the ether.
Therefore, the public can expect an 11th amendment to the most dysfunctional set of rules ever laid out for any parliamentary assembly; even one as irrelevant as the Salisbury City Council.
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