Saugeen Shores council was once again forced to halt a meeting to allow police to escort a man out of council chambers.
A recess was called after local resident John Mann refused to leave the podium. Council voted to not let him speak at open forum due to the “six-month rule” that prohibits a resident from addressing a topic twice within that time frame.
Mayor Luke Charbonneau called for a recess and the Saugeen Shores Police Department was called due to Mann "refusing to respect procedures and insisting on disrupting a council meeting".
Mann said he believes he should have been allowed to speak
“They didn’t give me an opportunity to give my reasons why the six-month rule did not apply, or why it should be waived. There’s no mechanism for a citizen to respond,” said Mann.
Mann was present at council two weeks ago, but council voted in favour of waiving the six-month rule and allowed him to speak at that time. This time, they voted to enforce the rule because he planned to address the same topic, procedural by-laws.
Man said he hasn’t decided if he will return to council in two weeks to speak again.