Mississauga Musings

I feel badly. And I need to back off --at least for a little while.

Yesterday, I provided readers with a full summary (and then some) of Monday's Mississauga Audit Committee meeting.

I wrote:

"I have video of the entire Audit Committee meeting already loaded on my computer. However, there's no way I would YouTube that thing "raw". There were statements made that ran contrary to what my Freedom of Information (FOI) requests had already confirmed.

Instead of watching, I fast-forwarded through the video and grabbed some freeze-frames.

Since then I've had the time to view the videotape in its entirety. I can't tell you how important videotape is for municipal watchers. (I just smiled after typing that last sentence. Here I am singing the praises of videotape when we've got video surveillance cameras aimed at us everywhere by governments that also sing the praises of videotape. Irony.)

Well, it's true. Videotape is just so-so important. It's such a valuable tool. You see even bright, good-hearted people often can't recall details of an event accurately. And with each passing day, recall only gets worse. I see videotape as crystalized memory --and above all, if shot and used honestly, impartial memory.

Well, last night I watched the Audit Committee videotape right through. And I realized something that I simply didn't recognize when I was in there "live" and too busy making sure that I'd documented the meeting properly. I should've recognized it but I was too thick.

It was when Hazel McCallion stated:

"I think that this is an extremely important report regarding the procedures regarding security staff that is established --and I think we can appreciate that we were a little weak on this in regard to procedures."

And I should've appreciated what that actually meant. Like in meant-meant. I do now.

And I'm not going into great detail here because I'm due at a General Committee meeting very soon. But that's what I mean by just how crucial videotape is. What an extraordinary "voice" it has.

It was only last night, watching the Audit Committee that I realized the actual value of this unique footage. There's this place in the tape where Hazel McCallion turns to me and she's talking.

But here's the thing. She's not looking at the camera. Or into the camera. She's looking past that lens to ME. And to comprehend the extraodinariness-ness (yes, it's a word I just made it up), --the extraordinariness-ness of that moment you have to be ME.

For the first time since whenever, my permanently-affixed-and-engaged Municipal Deflector Shields went down. Hazel McCallion's look simply disarmed me last night.

It's important that I acknowledge that this morning. To thank Madam Mayor for her words on Monday. Viewing that video last night, I have zero doubt that Mayor McCallion was sincere. Absolutely genuine.

For the record, I'm grateful.

AND THEN SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENED

Yeah.

I got email from Madam Mayor in response to my email crabbing about them not announcing that Special (Additional) Council meeting and how what is an unnannounced Special (Additional) Council meeting but an in-camera meeting that the public can't complain about because that's not part of the Bill 130 provision. I also crabbed about there not being Public Question Period at Special (Additional) Council meetings.

I had one good lament going.

I then hit "Send", catapulted my email into the Corporate Abyss --and immediately forgot about it. By which I mean that I didn't expect an answer.

Well I got one. And I need to share this here because it really isn't my personal email, it's for all Mississaugans. And then it'll be time for me to head off to Big Yellow.

"The Council Procedure By-law contains provisions for the calling of a special meeting of Council and notes that written notice of all special meetings of Council must be delivered not less than 48 hours before the time set for the meeting to all Members of Council by mail or electronically. The details with respect to this meeting were not finalized until late in the morning on March 3, 2008, and as a result, in order to provide 48 hours notice to the Members of Council, the meeting was scheduled for 12:00 noon."

You note that the Notice By-law is not available on the City website, however, the By-law is included on the By-laws Online web page at the following link under the heading Public Notice Requirement http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/cityhall/bylaws

[Note to readers. True. I did eventually find the By-law at mississauga.ca (it had a different name). I just didn't want to bother the Mayor and Council with a follow-up "Oopsie, *BLUSH* Never Mind, I Found It!" email. Like I said earlier, I didn't expect anything out of my first email.]

"In addition, the Office of the City Clerk has reviewed your concerns and will be amending their procedures to ensure that the following occurs for all future Special Meetings of Council to ensure that the public is advised of all Special Meetings of Council:"

- the Special Meeting will be noted on the Committee Calendar and the agenda will be available on the City website

- the agenda will include a Public Question period related to items on the agenda

I thank you for raising these issues.

Sincerely,

HAZEL McCALLION, C.M.

MAYOR

I'm still discombobulated.

I just got a Public Question Period inserted into Special (Additional) Council meetings without even trying!

Municipal governance just got a tad more confusing the last 24 hours.

Regardless, I'm grateful. And I need to point out something else. I should've also been more gracious in yesterday's Blog. Far more gracious. But I was far too bristly --still have so many ruffled feathers after years of having my fur rubbed the wrong way. (I love mixing metaphors)

Still.

Signed,
The (Thank you, Madam Mayor) Mississauga Muse
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"I hope that the people we hire are sensitive to the fact that we are dealing with the public and we should give them every understanding possible." (Hazel McCallion on MIssissauga Corporate Security, March 17, 2007)

"But other councils made their decisions quickly and with little public interaction. Just this past week, Peel Region set a new speed record. It reportedly voted to go with an LAS investigator, and according to a citizen blogger who videotaped it, they did it in just 14 seconds. According to the same blogger, Mississauga council had the previous record, when it did the same thing in 16 seconds."--Address by André Marin Ombudsman of Ontario (March 6, 2008)

"We must employ every possible tactic to dissuade those who try to silence us with fear" ---The Mississauga News Editorial (2007-03-24)

Want (or worse, need) to learn more? Link to MISSISSAUGAWATCH.CA
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