Windsor city council is voting by email.
Maghnieh said he took umbrage with the latest council matter to land in his inbox: a request to change a sign at Applebee’s on Division Road. He said it wasn’t urgent enough to warrant what he said should be a vote used only in emergencies. But city CAO Helga Reidel said that’s effectively what they’re used for anyway. She said she made the call to poll by email because the December request came in a month with no council meetings scheduled.
“It was important to that small business owner,” she said. “It’s the 21st century. Email makes it easier to get in touch with councillors, and I think we should take advantage of it.” Reidel said the email votes are a rarity – there were about half a dozen in 2010, more in 2009 during the prolonged CUPE strike – and tend to come up only when the issue is urgent. Holding one or not is usually a judgment call.