Every once in a while something politically interesting happens at Hay River Town Council.
Of course, we're not saying that the usual discussions of, say, water and sewer projects are not interesting or important. For the efficient functioning of any community, all such projects are important.
Instead, when we say something "politically interesting," we are referring to some debate about the proper functioning of a government body, such as a town council.
On July 31, there was such an interesting question about the appropriate role of a mayor in council deliberations.
The issue arose during discussion of an administration recommendation to negotiate an insurance cash settlement over the 2016 fire at the Emergency Response Training Centre in Old Town, instead of rebuilding a destroyed classroom.
Coun. Vince McKay was obviously irate – and said so very clearly – that Mayor Brad Mapes expressed his opinion in favour of a payout.
McKay said that, according to training for council members on their roles and code of conduct, a mayor is supposed to be impartial in the council chamber during procedures.
Mapes countered that he has checked out the rights of a mayor and he has the right to express his opinion, even though he doesn't have the right to vote.
It is certainly an interesting issue, and there are good arguments on both sides.
A mayor should be impartial during council debates.
However, we think that means, as the chair of a council meeting, a mayor has to ensure that all sides of an issue are heard equally and that votes are conducted fairly.
And a mayor has to ensure that debates stay on topic and remain civil.
We don't think impartiality in this case means that a mayor should not be able to express an opinion.
The main reason is that a mayor is not necessarily just the chair of a meeting, but can also vote when a vote by councillors is tied, even though Mapes didn't point that out at the council meeting. We have occasionally seen a Hay River mayor cast a vote, including Mapes.
A mayor is also elected by the people to represent them, and as such they expect that person to express an opinion. It would be exceedingly strange for a mayor to not say anything about anything.
Let's just say that a town council is not a mini constitutional monarchy with a mayor playing the role of a king or queen, and therefore not allowed to get involved in policy discussions.
But there is one overriding reason we have no problem with a mayor expressing an opinion on whatever issue is facing town council. Basically, it doesn't seem to matter.
Coun. McKay and perhaps others might assume that a mayor's opinion could influence the way councillors will vote. However, in our years of covering Hay River Town Council, we have never seen any evidence to that effect.
Councillors vote as they want.
And that happened on July 31. Councillors voted three to two against negotiating an insurance payout, despite the arguments in favour of the idea from Mayor Mapes.