Quote:
Originally Posted by Waye Mason
You are conflating a couple of issues. I can't speak to anything else you are writing about that happened in the past, except for what I saw at the public hearing.
The rules neither say that the public can or cannot present images or power points. My reading is that it is up to the Chair (ie the Mayor) whether it will be allowed or not. Mike allowed it when the Bedford West follow presented.
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But the Clerk has consistently said a citizen cannot have more than 3 images and at one hearing you attended this year Alan Ruffman was told he could not leave an image on the screen as he spoke. ( the hearing into the street closure for Nova Centre ?) And when the Seagate proposal was first before HRM council I asked the Clerk on a day prior to the hearing if I could use a device to display photos to better explain my points. I was told I could use up to 3 photos which staff would place on the projector.
Procedural fairness implies that if an applicant can use use an unlimited number of images then so can a person speaking to the issue. The Admin order has no mention of images.
As a councillor you are sitting there in a quasi-judicial proceeding. The council is supposed to be an unbiased group. Neither the applicant nor the citizens are allowed to privately lobby the council prior to or during the hearing.
I never call, write or speak to a councillor on any development proposal once it has been advertised, not even before a public information meeting.
You are supposed to allow the applicant and the citizens the opportunity to speak to the application, a citizen has 5 minutes. A hearing is as much a visual exercise as it is verbal. Read the Admin order again, words are important.
It is not up to the Mayor to decide how to proceed, he is required to follow the process laid out in the Admin order.
And you wrongly imply the gentleman from Bedford easily illustrated his position. One image fell off the projector and the clerk took another document and placed it on the projector.
After Councillor Watts asked a question about what I had said the Mayor asked the Clerk for a response. The solicitor was next to the mayor and as far as I am aware a solicitor is far more qualified to respond to a procedural issue than a clerk who is not a lawyer.
Let me boil this down to a simple question :
" If a citizen uses the permitted 5 minutes at a Public Hearing why does it matter if she/he uses a powerpoint presentation in the same manner as city staff and the applicant "