At two Elliot Lake Standing Committee meetings held virtually Monday afternoon, viewers may have been surprised to see Coun. Chris Patrie on screen taking part.
What he didn't do was vote on anything.
A resolution that would have reinstated him to the committees failed last week at a full meeting of Council.
It meant that nothing has changed for Patrie. He may attend committee meetings, debate issues and ask questions, but he's not allowed to vote. Other sanctions against him include forfeiture of pay along with removal from membership from boards and committees, after he ran afoul of Elliot Lake's Code of Conduct.
Elliot Lake CAO Daniel Gagnon explained in an email, "Coun. Patrie was not formally added to any committees at the last council meeting. There were two motions that were related. The first motion passed, the second was voted down."
The email reads, "The first motion indicated a willingness by a majority of Council to add Coun. Patrie as a member to committees. That one passed but it was not specific to the vacancies, more of a general statement of intent. The second motion to actually add Coun. Patrie as a member to the specific committees: Ec Dev Standing Committee and F&A (Finance and Administration) Committee was voted down."
Gagnon concluded, "So, we still have two vacancies and Coun. Patrie does not have a seat on any standing committees (except any that include all 7 council members like the budget committee)."
At the Finance and Administration Committee meeting Monday afternoon, members received three reports authored by the city's Special Projects Manager, Steve Antunes.
One embraced the city's street naming and renaming policy, another suggested public land tree and public bench naming tributes.
A third spelled out Elliot Lake's proposed Sponsorship Policy regarding naming such entities as trails and parks. An amendment at Monday's meeting would also prohibit any such naming on behalf of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis interests and firms.
In his report, Antunes stated, "Council has been approached several times in regards to renaming City Assets (primarily streets) to recognize the achievements and legacy of selected citizens of Elliot Lake. These requests have been sporadic and both Council and staff have no policy or guidance in place to direct them on fulfilling or denying these applications."
Last February at meetings of the By-Law and Planning and the Recreation and Culture Standing committees, staff was told to prepare a renaming policy for municipal assets.
If council approves in a week, a separate Memorial Item and Sponsorship Policy will exist alongside the renaming policy.
The Memorial policy sets forth two options for people to memorialize loved ones or special occasions. One is based on adoption of basic city assets, like a tree, or bench.
In the second, if there are no trees or benches in a desired area, there would be a purchase option of either a tree or bench. A tree is a one-time purchase. A bench buy would be based on a fifteen year period after which the purchaser would have a chance to buy a replacement bench in year sixteen.
Purchasers would also have the option to buy both.
Antunes advised committee members against renaming existing streets. He said it's based on the experience of other communities.
The manager said experience has found such changes need a large amount of follow-up staff time to advise governments, entities, postal and delivery firms, utilities, service providers, mapping firms, even Google maps, of the renaming changes.
Antunes said his research suggested adding ceremonial names without actually changing the official street name is a better way to go.
The committee also decided to recommend to full Council to set up a Names Reserves List where suggestions could be added to a list of pre-screened names which would be considered for any new streets.
All these changes will go to the next virtual meeting of Elliot Lake City Council on Monday, April 26 at 7 p.m.