An unusual series of events played out last night at the monthly MRC Pontiac council of mayors meeting, held at the Bryson Lions Club.<\/p>\n
The first in-person meeting held in 2021, it began with a lengthy in-camera session that lasted roughly 50 minutes. In-camera refers to a private discussion involving only elected officials and relevant bureaucrats, and typically occurs when council is discussing a human resources' (HR) issue, which was the case in this instance.<\/p>\n
The session occurred at the very start of the evening rather than during the regular council meeting, due to concerns about confidentiality since it was being live-streamed to social media.<\/p>\n
Pontiac Warden Jane Toller was excluded from the council chambers during the discussion, and declared a conflict of interest related to the resolution in the regular meeting. Litchfield Mayor Colleen Larivi\u00e8re also declared a conflict of interest and was present during the in-camera discussion, but did not vote on the resolution.<\/p>\n
The draft resolution itself doesn\u2019t offer much information, but it was read out by MRC Director General Bernard Roy before the vote:
\u201cIt is moved by and resolved that an agreement be reached with respect to an outstanding HR file, in accordance with the information shared with the mayors regarding said agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n