By David F. Rooney
For the first time in at least 18 years a local resident was physically ejected from City Council. Alistair Taylor was tossed out of the Tuesday, September 9, meeting after he interrupted its discussion of the Big Eddy Waterworks controversy.
Chief Administrative Officer Tim Palmer took him by the arm and physically escorted him from the Council Chamber after Taylor interrupted Mayor David Raven and became argumentative. Senior staff Mike Thomas, Darren Komonski and Graham Inglis eventually joined Palmer in ensuring that Taylor not only left the chamber but the building as well.
It is clear from the video that Taylor was agitated. Mayor Raven declared a five-minute recess before resuming the meeting.
In the 13 years I have covered Council meetings I have never seen anyone thrown out of a meeting. Shawn Filipchuk, who video-recorded Council for 18 years, said Wednesday that she has never seen anything like this, either.
You can see this unusual incident, which occurs at the 19:34 mark on the video, here:
