One of our stringers just called the Editorial Board with the results of tonight's Township of Langley Council Meeting. It was an unusual night to say the least. Our stringer reports that the mayor threatening the democratic process, along with Councillor Richter once again getting no one to second an irrational motion.
Mayor Green kicked off a one-sided debate by inappropriately using the Mayor's Report portion of this council meeting to spout off about his election platform and how he will get his way. During the mayor's report he is really meant to list the various event dates and a listing of functions he attended. No one can recall a mayor using this time to promote himself and his agenda, but Mayor Green did just that!
After emphasizing his 12-14 hour work days, he got into a very disjointed rant about people sending mass e-mails and accused the public of spreading false rumours. He did much the same a week prior with the whole firefighter issue. Just as he did with fire fighters, he was able to back peddle by sounding like a promoter of the Langley Events Centre. He claims that no P3 (public-private partnership) is in place and it is simply a construction contract. The man ran on a platform of open government and then gets upset with people and tries to bully them around. He stated at least twice that if the public had any problems with issues they should call or e-mail him. But does he understand that we live in a democracy where people have the right to free speech and they also have the right to engage in discussions with all of council as many councillors are approachable and not bullies? Does he fathom that his actions and people issues are leading to the public avoiding him? People are not attracted to bullies Rick!
Our Editorial Board heard that this bullying by Mayor Green very evident as he served as the Chair of the last two council meetings. During the last meeting he cut Councillor Kositsky off as the man was making a calm point of order and when his verbal bullying wasn't working, he turned Kositsky's microphone off! This week he kept trying to rush and interrupt Councillor Charlie Fox from speaking. Later, Green allowed Councillor Richter to give a long preamble (more like a dissertation) to her motion. Never putting her in line until several councillors objected to the long-winded rant.
Many sports enthusiasts from the Township were present for this meeting and were very angry at the political stunts of Green and Richter. Our stringer overheard one man refuse Councillor Richter's request for a meeting with him to discuss the "complexities" of this matter. He said that he had seen and heard enough of her tonight. We also documented that for several days now, mayor and council have been bombarded with e-mails from many, many sports-minded residents that object to the Langley Events Centre being used as a political pawn. We have heard that at least one resident experienced a bully e-mail exchange with the mayor when she protested tonight's agenda. I'm sure Mayor Green and Cllr. Richter are unaware of the many supports of this particular resident, nor the votes the two have just lost with tonight's gong show.
Richter's motion did not get seconded and we are pleased to report that Councillor Bev Dornan (who voted against full-time fire fighters last week) obviously did not touch this hot potato this week.
The council chambers had an unusual number of Rick Green supporters present. It was a reminiscent of the inaugural Green love-fest, only attended this time by a faithful handful. Another bully attempt by the good mayor? It appears that anyone who dares to disagree with Mayor Green will have to deal with police-state tactics. Is this any way to run an "open and accountable government" Mayor Green?
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