Probably one of the most important roles of the mayor is to cast the deciding vote when the city council is tied, as was the case during the Whitehorse city council’s recent vote concerning the Porter Creek D subdivision.
Because this situation is relatively rare, it seems unconventional, to say the least, for the mayor to use her tie vote to proceed with this plan.
In such cases, where a council is equally divided on an important but far-from-urgent issue, conventional practice would seem to dictate a vote by the mayor not to proceed further at this time.
In this case the project would only have been delayed for further deliberation by the council, as was suggested by half of the council members.
The mayor may have misunderstood or overstepped her responsibilities in this event à a matter that all council members should bring to her attention.
Ken de la Barre
Whitehorse
See more letters pages 7 and 8.