There was a bit of a brouhaha November 17th 2020 down at the corner of Colborne and Calamity. Maybe you will remember the occurrence.
Mayor Kristal Chopp called it a witch hunt, proceeded to axe and replace the Deputy Mayor and then left the building.
Of course, when Elvis left the building cheering crowds called for an encore but on the anniversary of the day when two rival municipalities Buda and Pest found a way to get along and merged a similar bonhomie was not to be found in Norfolk County.
What about this witch hunting phenomenon? It became the accusation du jour.
Witch hunting can be traced back to 18th century BC in ancient Egypt and Babylonia where punishment for nasty magic was addressed in the earliest law codes. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible brought the term back and into the world of politics during the McCarthy era. More recently, former President Trump consistently cast himself as a witch hunt victim on a par with the defendants in the Salem Witch Trials.
Norfolk has its own tradition with the hunting of witches. Perhaps the witch trap used by Norfolk’s first settler, John Troyer, should be relocated from Norfolk Archives to Council Chambers to prevent any further transgressions.
However, lost in the excitement of that November afternoon’s shenanigans was the whole matter of the need for some clarity on what exactly the Norfolk Deputy Mayor does.
According to Norfolk Council’s procedural by-law as amended in 2017:
Deputy Mayor shall mean a Member of Council who is appointed, by By-Law or resolution of Council, to act from time to time in the place of the Mayor when the Mayor is absent from the municipality or absent through illness, or when the office is vacant and, while so acting, such Member has and may exercise all the rights, powers and authority of the Head of Council and this authority is delegated by Council under Section 23.1 of the Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001 c.25
Not really helpful, is it?
Whatever the outcome on October 24th here is hoping the new Council will function with a much higher level of decorum and respect for its members and citizens.
And maybe they will update that procedural by-law as it relates to deputy mayor duties.
