Technology fails city council once again - program that records the votes wasn't working - it never has worked. What did it cost?

Budget 2017 ICON aaBy Staff

January 23, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON

The budget of  $238 million for 2017  was approved Monday night – on a vote of 5-2 with Dennison and Meed Ward voting against the budget that was debated earlier in the month and came out o the Budget Committee of the Whole as recommended.

The Gazette has noticed that Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison tends to always vote against the budget – knowing there will be a majority and that the budget will pass.

The decision was made on a recorded vote – which meant that we would get to see members of Council pressing a button on a device that was in front of them – the vote would be cast and the results would appear on a screen and look like this:

voting-1st-time

This is what the screen is supposed to look like – it shows what the vote is about and how each member of council actually voted. But it doesn’t work.

Well, it didn’t work out that way. The years were asked to stand and give of them did that – the nays were asked to stand and two of them did that.

So where was the technology that was to record the votes for the public to see whenever they wished? Apparently it isn’t working – yet.

The Halton District School Board has a system that works flawlessly. And they record every vote – not just the city council votes the way the city does,

School board votes

School boards voting results – there for everyone to see.

Burlington city council does not record who voted how on matters that come out of the Standing Committees as recommendations.

The vote to approve the budget was passed on a 5-2 vote – with Councillors Meed Ward and Dennison voting against the budget.

 

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