Goderich Port Management Corporation President Rowland Howe outlined the relationship between the Port and the town at this week’s council meeting.
“In the past we have not done much in the way of orientation and we went out of our way this year, with this new council. We went through integrity commissioner and a variety of town policies and occupational safety and harassment, conflict of interest. For the five councillors this is all new,” said Goderich Mayor Myles Murdock.
Mayor Myles Murdock says the town hasn’t spent a lot of time on orientation for new councils in the past but this year was different and Howe’s presentation was part of the change. Murdock says he had only been Mayor for three months before the election and this is former council Trevor Bazinet’s first term as Deputy Mayor and all five councillors are completely new to the position. So he felt it was important to do a little more this time. He says, aside from the presentation on the Port, they went through the role of the integrity commissioner and a variety of town policies and occupational safety and harassment, conflict of interest. And he says for the five councillors it’s all new.
Murdock says something else that caught his attention was the organization communications policy. Murdock says it appeared to deal specifically with staff, but didn’t really define who was staff and if that included members of council.
“because we receive our pay from the organization and at county, of course, they consider us to be employees and not separate. So the way it was written indicates that the C-A-O will vet all communications before they’re announced,” he added.
Murdock says he felt that was inappropriate because the Mayor is often asked questions on the spur of the moment and should be able to respond to those questions. Council decided what they need is a separate policy for the Mayor and members of council while retaining the current policy for staff. Murdock says an amended policy will be brought back to council at their next meeting.
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