Council is saying there will not be an appeal of the nine district decision of the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board. But they will meet with representatives of the seven villages of Kings County prior to a final decision on August 2.
Yesterday at Committee of the Whole the UARB ruling was accepted despite the Warden media comments that lead to the headline: "Council mulling over an appeal".
After much posturing about the need to wait to discuss the decision behind closed doors at noon with legal counsel (Kevin Latimer) it was decided to move ahead with a debate. The intent at that point was that the lawyer would attend and answer councillors' questions in open chambers. Meanwhile Chief Administrative Officer Tom MacEwan had communicated with Mr. Latimer by email to relate council's decision to discuss the issue openly.
Subsequently, Mr. Latimer sent an email declining the opportunity to provide his opinions in open chambers. The end result was a 10 to 1 vote to recommend acceptance of the UARB decision, with Councillor Atwater providing the dissenting vote.
It was, in my opinion, unnecessarily complicated to get to this point. The recommendation to accept the UARB decision to have nine districts in the upcoming election goes to the regular council meeting scheduled for 6PM on August 2, for final debate and voting.
It is notable that later in the day the CAO and the Warden got messages from the Chair of the Greenwood Village Commission requesting a meeting with council regarding the UARB decision prior to the final vote on August 2.
The villages had not indicated to council as a whole, any particular interest in the UARB decision prior to yesterday's debate and recommendation.
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