On July 17, 2025, during a TNRD board meeting, Director/Councillor Dale Bass seconded a motion and then admitted that she had no idea what she seconded.
A notice of motion was read by Director Lee Onslow and was seconded by Bass who stated “I second it, but I have a question of our corporate officer”.
“I have absolutely no idea what I seconded”
Bass addresses the Corporate Officer (CO):
Bass: Corporate Officer, one of the reasons that there’s a delay between tabling a notice of motion and voting on it is to give the people who will be voting on it an opportunity to contemplate it. You can’t do that if it’s not on a piece of paper you can take home. So could we change our procedure so that if we’re going to table a notice of motion, we get a copy of it?
Bass: Because I just seconded something, and I have absolutely no idea what I seconded. Because I was also hoping that I would get the chair’s attention while she was reading her motion. But I trust director Onslow, so I know it’s going to be something good.
Bass: But it would have been nice to have had the last couple of weeks to actually look into it. That’s all I’m asking, if we could do that.
CO: Absolutely, we could do that. Would you prefer that we hand it out at the time of like prior to the meeting when it was first introduced?
Bass: Well, I think we need to get it as soon as it’s tabled. So we can take it home and look at it in case it happens to be something that might have more consequence on a bigger issue or something that I don’t know anything about, which is a lot of things as well.
Bass: So at Council, what we do is we make sure by the end of the day of the meeting when the notice has been tabled that we have a copy of it.
CO: Okay
Bass: So something like that. Just because I’m old and I can’t remember.
“in the agenda a week before the meeting isn’t enough?”
Chair Barbara Roden seeks clarification from Bass:
Roden: Just to clarify, having it printed out here in the agenda a week before the meeting isn’t enough?
Bass: No. No. No, I’d like to have it. Well, maybe it is for some people. It is not for me.
Roden: Okay. No, I’m just wondering because it is here.
Bass: I don’t think that far ahead to think, look back. And I don’t open my laptop very often because I don’t like screens. But I really love paper. You must understand that, Chair Roden. We love paper and the printed word.
Roden: I keep waiting for that paperless office they promised us 25 years ago.
Bass: I just think it’s a lot easier because it’s so much easier just to ignore your laptop and not even think about it until the next time. But if there’s a piece of paper there and you’re obsessed with paper, you might actually look at it.
No Communication Strategy
Unfortunately for Bass, Director/Councillor Katie Neustaeter left the meeting about 15 minutes early. Or, maybe Neustaeter was just on a bathroom break.
Regardless, Neustaeter wasn’t available to provide a communication strategy around not admitting a faux pas. Instead Bass was left with Neustaeter’s empty chair and empty pop can.
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Enjoy The Video
Check out the video, and especially the reactions from the other directors:
And you missed the entire point. There was no copy of the notice of motion provided to the board. I asked for copies to be provided in the future so we actually can see what we are dealing with. Good cherry picking there. Apparently you have no idea how to be truly factual.