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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday May 19, 2007 - 5 Mayor sees himself as a coach or team builder Continued from page 3 Harry Barrett, who held the job from 1973 to 1985. However, things have changed around Town Hall ­ in some ways, more quickly and smoothly than many observers would have predicted. One of the most evident changes can be seen at council meetings, which have become almost streamlined versions of their former self. One of the first changes Burton made was to install a timer in council chambers, to enforce speaking time limits on both visitors to council, and councillors themselves. The equipment had been purchased as part of the renovation of council chambers a few years ago, and the limits were already outlined in the town's procedural bylaw, but neither was actively used prior to Burton's election as mayor. With the support of council members, Burton committed to enforcing the time limits ­ 10 minutes for delegates addressing council, and five minutes for councillors ­ in what he says was an attempt to make the meetings "a little more efficient and a little crisper." He has also directed staff to ensure agendas primarily focus on action items, with correspondence and other information for councillors funnelled through a less formal process. Finally, Burton has been a no-nonsense chair of meetings. Councillors who argue with delegates, or meander off topic, quickly find themselves chided ­ in some cases when the mayor simply cuts off their microphone. "By and large, I don't talk. I chair the meeting," he says. Unlike his predecessor, Mulvale, RON KUZYK / OAKVILLE BEAVER ON THE JOB: Mayor Rob Burton celebrated Arbour Week in April and Oakville's designation as the 2007 Forest Capital of Canada by planting a tree with Dave Lemkay (left) of the Canadian Forestry Association and Town Crier Daniel Richer. who frequently inserted personal anecdotes or town history lessons into discussions, Burton adds, "You guide the meeting. You don't participate, you don't debate and you don't lecture." The changes have made a difference. Meetings that commonly took two or three hours in the recent years are now over and done with inside an hour. Burton says it's a change that respects Town staff ­ who typically work all day prior to an evening meeting ­ as well as the public, who value evening meetings to allow widespread participation in town democracy. "It's no longer necessary to figure on spending the whole night here," he says with a smile. But that isn't to say Burton doesn't spend an awful lot of hours in the mayor's chair, and at breakfast meetings, and at dinner engagements, and at weekend ribbon-cuttings. "It consumes a huge amount of your life," admits Burton, whose youngest child Robbie, 15, still lives at home. After attending all of his son's hockey games for the last 10 years, the mayor was at a council meeting this winter, when Robbie's team finally captured the championship. Burton got the news when his son ­ who scored two goals during the playoffs ­ slipped into the back of the council chambers and held up the trophy. As his family has adjusted to his new role, so too have the people around him at Town Hall. "I think there was a tendency among some people to misperceive my basic nature as a leader and an executive. I'm very much in the style of a coach or a team builder," he says. "I need to help people see a thing and want to do something about it." Creating advisory teams ­ or mayor's roundtables, as he's calling them ­ is one of Burton's upcoming plans. The teams would be mandated with offering him advice and feedback on important issues. One of the first he hopes to establish will pull together industry leaders to advise him on transportation issues. "The congestion doesn't just inconvenience residents. The congestion inconveniences industry," says Burton, who will be passing along suggestions to the provincial Minister of Transportation. With thoughts of inviting industry executives to meet, Burton is contemplating creating a meeting room out of the mayoral office. "I'm hoping to transform my quite grand two-storey office into what I think will be a more useful application," he says. "Maybe I'll have a more human scale office." He eyes up the councillors' lounge. Now, if they'd just add a pop machine. PLASMA TELEVISION PLASMA TELEVISION Deeper blacks and more natural colour tones all wrapped up in a thin, high-resolution flat panel screen - equally stunning on or off. With screen sizes similar to those at the movie theatre, the Panasonic Viera plasma provides a theatre-like experience at home. Change your perspective on television ­ consider the exclusive Panasonic Viera plasma at Canadian Sound in downtown Oakville. Creating sensational smiles in Oakville for 15 years.