Police Commission To Look At Clarifying Election Procedures
By Robert Thomas
Last month's ruling by Destiny Gibney - Moose Jaw Police Service's (MJPS) director of legal services - on how to elect the chair of the Moose Jaw Board of Police Commissioners (MJBOPC) may not have followed the letter of the law.
At Thursday's MJBOPC monthly meeting it drew calls from commissioners ranging from the need to adopt a new policy on how to elect a chair and vice-chair to prevent a similar incident in the future right up to the need hold an immediate redo to correct the error.
Thursday afternoon's discussion was in relation to the confusion surrounding January's selection of Mary Lee Booth as MJBOPC chair.
Background Of The Issue
As reported at the time only in MJ Independent initially there had been a tie vote between Commisioner Doug Blanc and Booth on who was to be chair.
THE MOOSE JAW BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS at their January meeting- MJ INDEPENDENT file PHOTO
The tie occured when Kim Robinson was unable to attend the meeting and thus there were an even number of commissioners.
Following the January tie Ms Gibney said she required a ten minute recess to see what to do.
After research Ms Gibney said that since the MJBOPC ran under Robert's Rules Of Order that the interim meeting chair, Commissioner Clive Tolley, could not vote.
Ms Gibney's ruling left commissioners Booth, Blanc and Markin able to vote.
In a subsequent revote Booth was elected MJBOPC chair when Commissioner Tolley was disqualified from voting.
Blanc was then elected vice chair with Commissioner Tolley unable to vote as Booth - in error - had yet to assume being the Police Commission's chair.
Commission's Thursday Discussion
At Thursday's meeting Commissioner Blanc said he was not disputing the election but that “we (MJBOPC) need to make a few changes” in order to clarify the procedure what to do if a tie would ever occur in the future.
Commissioner Blanc pointed to improper procedure at the MJBOPC's January meeting when it came to chairing the meeting.
Since the Police Commission was just sworn in Commissioner Tolley should not have been the meering’s interim chair of the January meeting but under proper procedureal rules it should have been the meeting's recording secretary, Blanc said.
Such a move would have allowed Commissioner Tolley to vote - contrary to Ms Gibney's ruling.
Commissioner Blanc said he based this on how the issue is treated at Council before they are sworn in.
“When City Council is first elected and we have not been sworn in the City Clerk chairs that meeting until we are sworn in,” he said.
If there had been a tie Commissioner Blanc said there should have been a re-vote to see if one of the commissioners had changed their mind.
Due to the tie an interim chair for the January meeting only could have been elected with a chair appointed at the next meeting, he said.
However that may not have been possible because City of Moose Jaw Bylaw #5599 The Moose Jaw Board Of Police Commissioners enacted August 24, 2020 states “(The) Board shall appoint one of the Board members to be Chairperson and another Board member to be Vice-Chairperson at the first meeting in January of each year.”
Councillor Blanc stated he was looking to the future to ensure clarity if a similar situation occured again the answer would be readily available.
He pointed out Ms Gibney had never stated what section of Robert's Rules Of Order she had based her decision upon.
He also stated he was not 100 percent sure if MJBOPC meetings followed Robert's Rules Of Order as it is not set out.
Commissioner Blanc said by taking a rigid interpretation of Robert's Rules Of Order that it would mean the MJBOPC's Chair could not enter the discussion in order to preserve the Chair's impartiality.
“The chair can’t vote on anything for the next year (except to break a tie).”
However Commissioner Blanc said Robert's Rules Of Order allows small board - under 12 members - to have their chair be full meeting participants.
The legislation surrounding the MJBOPC's procedures also do not state if their meetings are conducted by Robert's Rules Of Order.
Commissioner Booth for her part said the entire issue was to be discussed as part of the in-camera portion of the meeting.
She described her election as chair at the January meeting as being “awkward.”
Commissioner Booth said the Commission needed to “talk about governance.”
Commissioner Kim Robinson- who was joining the meeting virtually - said Robert’s Rules Of Order does not take precedence over city bylaws.
Provincial legislation (the Police Act) and the City's bylaws do not state the procedures on how to appoint the MJBOPC's chairvand vice-chair.
“It (Robert's Rules Of Order) only take effect when the Bylaw is not specific,” he said.
Commissioner Booth replied Bylaw #5599 The Moose Jaw Board Of Police Commissioners was silent on the issue.
“We have to have an understanding what to do in the future if we have a tie situation,” she said.
Commissioner Robinson felt the error in selecting need to be immediately corrected so as not to set a precedent.
“If we require a re-do we require a re-do,” Commissioner Robinson said, adding it prevented it happening in the future.
“We would say we let it go the last time so we will let it slide this time,” he said, adding that it was not the best solution.
Commissioner Booth said the issue “is something we have to look at…I think we have to have a deeper discussion.”
The Commission then accepted the information to discuss it later on the meeting as part of their in-camera discussions.