City council and city administration owe several residents an apology.
On Monday night, after listing the Bay Street active transportation corridor on the weekly council agenda, councillors decided they hadn’t had enough time to look over the report.
It seems administration only delivered it into elected officials’ hands a few hours earlier.
Led by Mayor Keith Hobbs and McIntyre Coun. Trevor Giertuga, council decided to defer the matter, to give them time to study the issue further.
In and of itself, that’s actually a good thing. More informed councillors tend to make more informed decisions.
The trouble is they waited about four hours to make their intentions clear.
All the while, several people wanting to make deputations on the matter sat unkowingly in the audience, biding their time until the issue arose.
Hobbs and company had to know they weren’t prepared to debate the matter.
They also knew full well there were people waiting to speak on it. Armed with this information, why not apologize to those who had gathered to speak at the meeting’s outset, rather than make them wait for nothing?
As for administration, why not seek to have the item removed from the agenda if it’s not going to be ready in time?
