Recording of votes a necessity

Residents of Wolfville might be surprised to learn that as a matter of practice, council does not record the votes of individual councillors.

In other words, there is no record of how individual councillors voted on particular measures.

I asked council why votes were not recorded and suggested votes of individual members be recorded.

In response to my question and suggestion, Mayor Jeff Cantwell stated at the Feb. 14 council meeting:

“Well, it was deemed by council, we went through a parliamentary orientation at the start of the new council, and it was deemed, I guess parliamentary procedure, proper parliamentary procedure that you do not record the individual yeas and nays. You take the vote and the vote is recorded as motion carried or motion denied.”

In other words, council does not record votes because that’s what

they were told to do at an orientation and not recording votes is

“proper parliamentary procedure.”

Since 2009 the House of Commons includes on its website a record of how MPS have voted. Kings County for the last several years has recorded the votes of its councillors.

Here are four reasons why the votes of Wolfville councillors should be recorded:

First, two of the council’s guiding principles are “openness and transparency in decision making.” Recording votes is consistent with these principles.

Second, a record stating how individual councillors voted on particular matters more accurately reflects what actually occurs at meetings.

Third, councillors may have made promises during the election campaign. Knowing how a councillor voted makes it possible to know if the councillor has kept his or her promises.

Fourth, at election time, for those councillors who seek reelection, it may be very helpful to know how he or she voted on a particular issue.

Staff or council members may argue recording votes is impractical and too time consuming. My experience is that the vast majority of votes taken by council are unanimous, and the record need merely state: “question/motion unanimously approved/disapproved.”

Did somebody bust into your summer getaway since you closed up camp back in the fall?

It’s not a fun thing to discover, but if and when you do, there are a few things you should do, said RCMP Const. David Fairfax in a media release.

He said Annapolis District RCMP want to prepare cottage, trailer, and camp owners for the unpleasant surprise of discovering their property has been broken into during the winter months.

“Each spring, the RCMP receives an increased number of complaints from individuals returning to their summer retreats to discover damage to their property and/or items missing,” he said.

If you discover damage to your property or suspect items were stolen, it’s important to do the following:

- Report the incident to police