MINUTES - Council - 19770105('
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MINUTES OF THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE 1977 COUNCIL HELD IN THE
~URORA HIGH SCHOOL ON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5th.l977.
The meeting was called to order by the playing of 0 CANADA by the
Aurora High School Band.
Clerk Administrator, K.B.Rodger, administered the Declaration of
Office to Mayor-Elect George D. Timpson, and to the following
Councillors-Elect.
Councillor-Elect Bill Ferguson, Councillor-Elect Richard Isaacson,
Councilfuor-Elect Peter Miller, Councillor-Elect Leonard Ostick,
Councillor-Elect Ronald S1mmons, Counc1llor-~lect Earl ~tewart,
and Councillor-Elect Kel Tonner.
K.B.Rodger, Clerk Administrator advised that Councillor-Elect
Norman Stewart had taken the Declaration of Office earlier.
All Members of the Council having taken their Declaration of Office
and having subscribed to the Oath of Alligance to the Queen,
the 1977-78 Council was duly constituted.
Reverend Freg G.Hall lead all present in the Prayer of Dedication.
The 1977 Council Roll Call by K.B.Rodger:
Mayor George Timpson,councillor Bill Ferguson, Councillor Richard
Isaacson, Councillor Peter Miller, Councillor Leonard Ostick,
Councillor Ronald Simmons, Councillor Earl Steart, Councillor
Kel Tonner.
Mayor George Timpson gave his Inaugural Address.
Members of Council -Ladies and Gentlemen:
On this occasion of the Inaugural meeting of the Town of Aurora
Council for 1977-7~, I want to welcome each ot you who has come her
this evening, for I know that some of you have travelled a
considerable distance.
In additrnon, I want to thank Mr. Hen Davidson and the members of
the Aurora High School Band for their contribution to this
evening's programme. Not only will they be p1aying the numbers
mentioned in the Programme, but later, a smaLler group of band
members, called the Stage Band, will provide background music
during the Reception. I'm sure we appreciate their partic1pation
here this evening.
To-night,the . Torch of Leadership has been given in trust to a new
Council •• This new Council is lead by a M?yor, whose generation
in leadership is greatly untested by society generally.
Many of us have come here, tonight, with a variety of optomistic
thoughhs :and aspirations in our minds, many of those thoughts
being perhaps wishful and hopeful regarding our concerns about
our future -both as individuals and collectively as a commun1ty.
In the next few moments, I will try to share with you some ot
my thoughts regarding our future.
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INAUGURAL MEETING -2 -JANUARl' 5th. 19'n
There are those in our Community, who once they have voted, adopt the
attitude that it is now up to the electorally successful people to do
their job on their own, and the sooner the better. There are others
who want to assist in the work of Government by making significant
contributions to the operation and decisions made by Government.
Personally, I have a much greater understanding and appreciation
for this second group of people, for I believe that Government is
the vehicle which people have created, by which those same people
strive toward and accomplish certain goals, both individually and
collectively within the Community.
A good Community is far more than just simply the sum of its members.
It can also be the author of ideas that the same people acting alone
would probably never conceive. Memb~rs of such a Community develop
sympathies and understandings with one another. They weave together
many small threads of diverse interest into a mosaic of relations
which tends toward the ideal life for everyone.
Thus a good Community becomes a large intimate neighbourhood that has
within its spirit the affection for other people that can come only
with the intimacy of working together for a good purpose, and the
true sense of interdependence on one another.
A Council, in a small To11m such as Aurora, is a very significant part
of a good Community. It must be an integral part of such a Community,
as opposed to being auxiliary to the Community it serves. It is for
these reasons that I understand and appreciate the second group of
people who want to assist in the work of Government, and it is for
these same reasons that one of the changes to be implemented by this
Council is the enlargement of the Public Sefety Committee to include
citizen members as well as Council members, and the enlargement of the
Planning and Development Committee and the new Industrial Committee to
include selected citizen participation where citizens have an area
of expertise in their knowledge that they are willing to share for
the benefit of the whole Community. These changes will bring most
of our Committees to the point where citizen participation, of one'
kin4 or another, is a regular feature rather than a Special Event.
Also inherent within such a Philosophy, about a good Community, is
the need for good citizens to be involved within their Community.
If the risks of such involvement in action for the Commun~ty are great
then so are the rewards, for it is one of the basic facts of human
life that "The ungiven self is the unfulfilled self". A good citizen
knows his neighbours and takes part with them in the life of the
Community.
It is for these reasons, that another of the goals for my Mayoralty
is to increase the level of citizen participation, not just in the
Council's various committees, but in as many facets of Community life
as possible •
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INAUGURAL MEETING - 3 -JANUARY 5th. ~977
Furthermore, I believe that the only way in which a person,·or indeed,
even a Council, can make some approach to knowing the whole of a
sub ect is by hearing what can be said about it by people of every
variety of opinion. I know from the orientation meetings that your
new Council held after the election, that we are committed to a new
and higher level of communieation with the people we represent. True
communication is a two-way avenue.
Citizen knowledge, interest, and action are together the life-blood
of our Democratic Society. A well-informed citizen is not misled
into supporting shoddy causes; he avoids the credulity and short--
sightedness of the confrontation situation which nurtures the
beginning of mania, panic, fanticism, delusion and even violence.
This Council wants to provide the machinery through which citizens can
speak out critically yet constructively.
It is with these thoughts in mind that your new Council will open all
Committee meetings with the exception of when personnel, property and
certain Financial matters and under discussion. Furthermore, I intend
to use the Mayor's Report in the local press as a medium to relay not
only the major decision of Council, but also i ,, provide the be.«!Jground
information for those decisions, in addition to reporting any other
information which may be of interest to the Community. We hope that
you will comment on Council's work in a spirit of true communication
with a positive and constructive manner.
It is with this method of approach that this new Council will set about
seeking solutions to the many problems that we face as a Community.
I do not intend, here and now, to delve into the details of these
problems, as many of them were well aired d~ring the Election
campaign and in various newspaper stories since. At one of the
organizational meetings of the new Council-Elect, each of us enumerated
the thoughts that citizens had given us during the Election, as 1'1el1
as the things each of us had mentioned in our Campaign platforms. The
resulting list is a lengthy one, which will serve as a constant
reminder of the things that we must strive to ~ccomplish as a
Community, in addition to the regular work, in which all Councils find
themselves involved.
Our goals include the development of new Recreational facilities, the
completion of the Library extension, the expansion of the Fire Hall,
the revitalization of our Downtown Core, the development of Shepherd's
Bush as a Recreational Area of which we can all be proud, the
encouragement of existing and new Recreational groups by monetary and
other means, the continuation of the sanitary and storm sewer separatio~
programme and the continuation of our excellent Park system. These are .
all goals which we believe are necessary.
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Of course, the key t~ obtaining these goals is the increase of Industrial
-Commercial Assessment through the development of more Industry in
Aurora, especially in our Industrial Park, so that the Tax increases
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INAUGURAL MEETING -----4 .. JANUARY 5th. '1'971
of the past few~ears, and another one again this Year in '1977,
can be minimized and taxes stabil~ed by such increased assessment.
This will enable to remain a place"where we can afford to live, and
at the same time, take steps toward the accomplishment of all the
dreams and aspirations that we have, for this Town we love. Some of
these goals will be more easily attainable than others, and Council
must organize them in priorities, keeping in mind what we, as a
Community, can reasonablJ accomplish and financially afford.
Certainly, responsible financial stewardship will be an objective
of my Mayoralty.
Finally, we must all work together to accomplish our goals. Members
of Council -whether they be Mayor or Councillors -must work
together as a team. The Council team is only as strong as its weakest
member -especially when we don't have a second line. We who are
Council members, must learn to work together to achieve our goals.
We must share our problems and concern with each other, and not
function as nine independent little islands out to trip up each other
at every opportunity, for no person can function viably and effectively
as a remote, insulated island. It is through development of such
team spirit and co-operation that we will be able to set the tone,
and indeed the pace, for that much bigger and more important team ··
the Aurora Community and its citizens.
Your Council is new. We need your help to do the job you expect of
us, I'll certainly do my best to do my share of the work on the Team.
Will you do yours?
Thank you.·
Introduction of Guest Speaker by Councillor R. Isaacson.
Guest Speaker Mr. Jim Irving.
Appreciation of Guest Speaker --Councillor K. Tonner.
Captain McKay, Commanding Officer of the Aurora Squadron, Queens
York Rangers was introduced and made a presentation of the Freedom
Plaque to Mayor Timpson to hold in trust, and to return to the Queen's
York Rangers Armories on a later occasion.
The Aurora High School Band played a musical s~lection.
Closing Remarks.
God Save The Queen played by the Aurora High School Band.
~£9'~ HAYOR if ' CLERK
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