Police commissioner Doug Blanc raised concerns about the policies around voting for a new board chair during the Moose Jaw Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Thursday.  

The police commissioners were sworn in during last month’s meeting, but there was confusion over the election of a new chair.  

Mayor Clive Tolley was the interim chair during the vote and it ended in a 2-2 tie with Commissioner Kim Robinson absent.  

Unsure what to do next, a second vote was taken but Tolley didn’t get a vote. The second vote came back 2-1 in favour of Mary Lee Booth.  

Blanc said, to start with, Tolley should not have been named the interim chair to call the meeting to order.  

“Technically, his term was over because he hadn’t taken his oath of office yet for another year. So, upon researching this, the chair of that first police commission meeting should have been our recording secretary,” Blanc said.  

Additionally, Blanc noted that the chair should have been allowed to vote. He said, according to Robert’s Rules of Order, committees with 12 members or less can have the chairperson vote.  

Blanc said if the vote remained a tie, then it should have gone to a second vote.  

“If they don't change their mind and we still have a tied vote, then what we should have done was we should have elected an interim chair for that meeting only until the very next meeting,” Blanc said.  

Booth agreed that the policies and bylaws need to be looked at and said it was an item for them to discuss in-camera.  

“It is awkward. It certainly was. So, what you brought up is certainly good to record for future years because again next January, we'll be looking at the same thing,” she said.  

Blanc told the board he was just bringing it forward as an information item and had no plans for asking for any changes.