Is Vernon mayor Wayne Lippert on a five second time delay? Coun. Barry Beardsell seems to think so after a seemingly tied vote at Vernon city council was broken only after a pause, followed by Lippert saying verbally which way he was voting. Council was voting on a development variance permit for a property on 29th Street when three councillors voted against the project and three voted in favour of it.Initially unsure which way Lippert had voted, Coun. Barry Beardsell criticized Lippert’s seemingly vague voting style.“Can I ask that you as mayor vote at the same time as everyone else does?” said Beardsell at the meeting.The mayor offered little acknowledgment of the remark at the meeting but in a later interview Lippert said he doesn’t do anything that Beardsell doesn’t do himself on occasion. He said if a council member doesn’t raise his hand or make a verbal comment then it’s assumed he is in favour of the motion.“The way I vote I do follow proper procedure,” he said. “All he was wanting me not to do is something he does on a regular basis himself.”Beardsell said later that the way the mayor votes has been bothering him since the new council was formed. He said the mayor seems to look around at the rest of council before making his decisions.Lippert is required to vote at the same time as everyone else, Beardsell said, and he should follow council procedure.“It’s not that the mayor has the decisive vote – he’s just one vote of seven,” he said. “Otherwise you end up getting voting cliques and I don’t think that’s right.”Lippert said he won’t change the way he votes in council because he’s not doing anything wrong. He said his voting record as mayor speaks for itself.“If you look at my record when I vote either way, when I vote for or against, it’s sometimes 6 to 1 against my vote,” he said.Unfazed by Beardsell’s comments, Lippert said it was just political gamesmanship by the councillor. He said Beardsell has been hard on city staff lately and this is just another one of his criticisms.“I think it’s just a political game,” he said. “It’s just Barry being Barry.”
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Mayor told to vote faster
By Scott Neufeld Wednesday, August 16, 2006 http://www.dailycourier.ca/article_448.php
Is Vernon mayor Wayne Lippert on a five second time delay? Coun. Barry Beardsell seems to think so after a seemingly tied vote at Vernon city council was broken only after a pause, followed by Lippert saying verbally which way he was voting. Council was voting on a development variance permit for a property on 29th Street when three councillors voted against the project and three voted in favour of it.Initially unsure which way Lippert had voted, Coun. Barry Beardsell criticized Lippert’s seemingly vague voting style.“Can I ask that you as mayor vote at the same time as everyone else does?” said Beardsell at the meeting.The mayor offered little acknowledgment of the remark at the meeting but in a later interview Lippert said he doesn’t do anything that Beardsell doesn’t do himself on occasion. He said if a council member doesn’t raise his hand or make a verbal comment then it’s assumed he is in favour of the motion.“The way I vote I do follow proper procedure,” he said. “All he was wanting me not to do is something he does on a regular basis himself.”Beardsell said later that the way the mayor votes has been bothering him since the new council was formed. He said the mayor seems to look around at the rest of council before making his decisions.Lippert is required to vote at the same time as everyone else, Beardsell said, and he should follow council procedure.“It’s not that the mayor has the decisive vote – he’s just one vote of seven,” he said. “Otherwise you end up getting voting cliques and I don’t think that’s right.”Lippert said he won’t change the way he votes in council because he’s not doing anything wrong. He said his voting record as mayor speaks for itself.“If you look at my record when I vote either way, when I vote for or against, it’s sometimes 6 to 1 against my vote,” he said.Unfazed by Beardsell’s comments, Lippert said it was just political gamesmanship by the councillor. He said Beardsell has been hard on city staff lately and this is just another one of his criticisms.“I think it’s just a political game,” he said. “It’s just Barry being Barry.”
Is Vernon mayor Wayne Lippert on a five second time delay? Coun. Barry Beardsell seems to think so after a seemingly tied vote at Vernon city council was broken only after a pause, followed by Lippert saying verbally which way he was voting. Council was voting on a development variance permit for a property on 29th Street when three councillors voted against the project and three voted in favour of it.Initially unsure which way Lippert had voted, Coun. Barry Beardsell criticized Lippert’s seemingly vague voting style.“Can I ask that you as mayor vote at the same time as everyone else does?” said Beardsell at the meeting.The mayor offered little acknowledgment of the remark at the meeting but in a later interview Lippert said he doesn’t do anything that Beardsell doesn’t do himself on occasion. He said if a council member doesn’t raise his hand or make a verbal comment then it’s assumed he is in favour of the motion.“The way I vote I do follow proper procedure,” he said. “All he was wanting me not to do is something he does on a regular basis himself.”Beardsell said later that the way the mayor votes has been bothering him since the new council was formed. He said the mayor seems to look around at the rest of council before making his decisions.Lippert is required to vote at the same time as everyone else, Beardsell said, and he should follow council procedure.“It’s not that the mayor has the decisive vote – he’s just one vote of seven,” he said. “Otherwise you end up getting voting cliques and I don’t think that’s right.”Lippert said he won’t change the way he votes in council because he’s not doing anything wrong. He said his voting record as mayor speaks for itself.“If you look at my record when I vote either way, when I vote for or against, it’s sometimes 6 to 1 against my vote,” he said.Unfazed by Beardsell’s comments, Lippert said it was just political gamesmanship by the councillor. He said Beardsell has been hard on city staff lately and this is just another one of his criticisms.“I think it’s just a political game,” he said. “It’s just Barry being Barry.”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment