Brad Johns wants to take back small council vote

Remember council's decision not to shrink itself? Well, late last night, at the tail end of a Halifax regional council meeting that lasted until 11pm, councillor Brad Johns notified council that he will introduce a motion of rescission regarding that decision.

Rules for motions of rescission are laid out in council's rules of procedures:

56A (1) After a matter has been decided in the affirmative, a member, at any subsequent meeting, may give notice of motion of rescission.
(2) At the next meeting of Council, the giver of such notice, or in that member’s absence, any other member on the member’s behalf, may put the motion of rescission.
(3) A motion of rescission is debatable.
(4) A motion of rescission shall be passed by a majority vote.

The votes leading up to the vote Johns is contesting hit a 12-12 council gridlock, but the vote to keep council size at 23 councillors and the mayor passed 12-10 because two councillors---Sue Uteck and Reg Rankin---had left the August 2 meeting. If we assume Uteck and Rankin are present next week, and if all councillors vote the same way they did last week, we'll still have a 12-12 gridlock, and Johns' motion will fail. (A majority vote will require 13 councillors.)

So unless Johns thinks he can change someone's vote, it's unclear why he's bothering.