Lessons on Leadership

I attended a hearing at the Town office on Monday night. This hearing was to deal with an issue that a local taxi driver had with his Taxi license. I had not attended one of these before, and I wanted to educate myself.

I was unaware that this hearing was a quasi-judicial affair, and therefore it’s essentially the same as being in Court? So, I was caught off guard when Mr. Mar (Assistant Legal Counsel) came into the Council Chambers and stated “all rise”. I’ll react more quickly next time.

However, what I did know is that this was a public meeting that was to start at 6:30 PM -- hence, I was in Council Chambers at about 6:25,

Unfortunately neither the Mayor nor any Councilors were present.

Finally, at about 6:40, the Mayor entered the Chamber and then walked through to the back. Then after about another 5 minutes the Councilors, plus the Mayor came in to the Chamber to start the proceedings, which were immediately recessed so they could deliberate in-camera. They came back after about 15 minutes and gave their decision orally, to be followed up by a written decision. They were done by about 7:10.

So, I learned that I should stand when the tribunal participants come into the room. I already knew that a public meeting that is scheduled to start at 6:30 should start at 6:30.

Some lessons need to be learned from experience. Some are simply the common courtesy and respect for the others we learned in school. I’m working on the former -- I already learned the latter.