There was a bit of turbulence as Sarnia council returned to in-person meetings on Monday.
The regular session was moving smoothly, until the council chamber emergency plan was raised for endorsement.
City/County Councillor Bill Dennis -- who is barred from in-person meetings and must attend virtually -- repeated a question he claimed to have asked during the closed meeting but didn't get a response to.
"Why wasn't -- and I'm talking to the people that were on council at that time -- why wasn't an emergency safety plan put in place back in 2017? Why did we wait until 2015 [sic] before an emergency safety plan was... was... was put in place? That's a reasonable question," Dennis asked, referring to turmoil during a previous council term.
After Dennis continued to pursue an answer, Mayor Mike Bradley said a history of tensions in the council chamber have been handled during his tenure.
"Councillor, come on, you're on here on ZOOM for a reason. Councillor White's called a point of order. We're dealing with the plan today and moving this community forward," Bradley said.
"You were here from 2018 on... at any point if you wanted to bring a motion forward you could do that," Bradley added.
City/County Councillor Chrissy McRoberts said she's grateful the emergency plan is being looked after now.
"We could literally make a list of a million things for hindsight being 20-20, to say we should have, we should have," said McRoberts. "So we're here now. We're doing it now."
Before the talks sidetracked, Dennis agreed the emergency plan was needed.
Councillor Anne Marie Gillis said more work needed to be done to find an alternate exit route from council chambers.
"I believe it should be on the east wall, and hopefully I would ask that if we approve this... we approve it recognizing that more work has to be done," said Gillis.
The plan was approved with the addition from Gillis. Councillor Dennis voted against it.
You can view the discussion starting at the 2 hour 42 minute mark of the online broadcast shared on YouTube.
You can read the emergency plan here.