Community News

CALL FOR TRUSTEE RESIGNATION CALL SPARKS WAR OF WORDS

RICHARD LEITNER rleitner@hamiltonnews.com

An advisory committee's call for Hamilton public school trustee Becky Buck to resign set off a war of words when presented to her fellow trustees, although the messenger, not the committee, seemed to be the target.

Veteran trustee Ray Mulholland sparked a heated debate when he appeared to criticize trustee Maria Felix Miller after she reported on four recommendations from the human rights and equity community advisory committee to the Jan. 17 board meeting.

Apart from calling on Buck to resign as vice-chair and trustee, the committee urged trustees to make the selection process for their chair and vice-chair more transparent in future, by no longer allowing secret ballot votes.

It did so after trustees selected Buck as vice-chair at their Dec. 6 meeting, arguing the west Mountain trustee should be barred from the position because she was one of four trustees whose conduct was found to be racist by an outside investigation.

Miller, who is a non-voting member of the committee, moved a motion to receive the recommendations, suggesting the call to change voting procedures be referred to trustees' governance committee.

That prompted objections from Mulholland, trustee for Ward 4 for five decades.

"I've been around for a long time. I've never seen colleagues attack other colleagues in such a disgraceful manner. They should clean up their own act," Mulholland said.

"There's a good part of a good book that says, for he or she that is without sin cast the first stone. We've all done things that we're not really all totally proud of, but for crying out loud folks, let it go."

Dundas trustee Paul Tut cut off Mulholland to raise a point of order, with Mulholland responding, "Oh God, here we go."

Tut said trustees should read their agenda packages, suggesting

Mulholland misconstrued Miller's presentation of the committee's report as reflecting her own views and joining others in demanding he apologize for "casting aspersions" on her character.

"I don't think in any way the trustee who was presenting that is in any way implicated in that or making any type of attacks against anyone around this table, so I think it's very important that we make that distinction," he said.

Mulholland responded that he didn't hear Tut's comments.

"What I said was a message to all trustees, including myself, to get on with the job and stop crucifying each other," he said.

The online meeting took an unexpected twist when chair Dawn Danko's computer froze and Buck briefly assumed the chair.

She said she acknowledged Miller was simply reading the advisory committee's report.

"I'm sorry for the manner in which the conversation had taken tonight," Buck said.

Danko rejoined the meeting, asking Mulholland to apologize or retract his statement.

"Trustee Miller did not disparage a fellow trustee," Danko said. "(She) brought forward the committee report as the representative for the community advisory committee and did so in a respectful way."

Mulholland insisted his comments attacked the report, not Miller.

"I don't think I mentioned the trustee's name at all," he said.

Miller said she appreciated that other trustees stressed she was only presenting the report, disagreeing with Mulholland's version of events.

"I was pretty clear that I heard the word(s), a fellow colleague should not be disparaging and then a Bible quote, and I can only assume it was directed at me as the trustee representative moving the report," she said.

"However, if that person has clarified that they did not intend to do it that way, that's fine. We can move on."

Mulholland cast the lone vote against receiving the committee's report.

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2022-01-20T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-20T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://communitynews.pressreader.com/article/281603833840052

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