Henry told to pull submission
A councillor who made headlines for a comment about falling fat people being a health risk has made another blunder.
Hamilton city councillor and anti-flouride campaigner Siggi Henry tried to make a submission on her own council plan despite being ‘‘strongly advised’’ not to.
Henry retracted it when a staffer explained the situation yet she’s not the only Hamilton city councillor recently reined in.
A strongly-worded finance chair’s report from Councillor Garry Mallett, who is known for his frugal commentary in the chamber, was barred from a recent agenda.
Henry’s submission was on the city’s proposed long-term plan which she and fellow elected members were due to consider.
Legal advisers had ‘‘strongly advised’’ councillors not to make personal submissions on council matters twice during their term, the governance team said.
Newcomers on council are told a lot of things and it’s hard to keep up with them all, Henry said.
But she accepts it was unwise to make a submission.
‘‘It was just an exercise in seeing what it’s like from the ratepayers’ side,’’ she said, as some people told her it was challenging and ‘‘a bit leading’’.
She probably wrote a few comments on topics she’s passionate about, she said, such as getting rid of Roundup and planting more fruit trees.
‘‘[The submission] went up on the website but then it got pulled,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m glad that governance picked it up.’’
General manager of strategy and communication Sean Hickey spoke to Henry and asked her to pull the submission.
‘‘She made a mistake, basically,’’ he said.
Henry declared her retracted submission at the start of council’s deliberations on May 31, adding that she’d listened to all submitters and came with an open mind.
The no-submissions advice to councillors is to ‘‘prevent the perception that they have predetermined the outcome’’, a statement from council governance manager Lee-Ann Jordan said.
If councillors don’t stick to the rules, it could invalidate a council decision or action, according to their code of conduct.