Well, tonight’s meeting looked to be a boring one, based on the agenda, but alas, it was far from boring…..and it even wrapped up around 7:20. Not too long and quite interesting…..here we go!
**Mayor DiCarlo was absent tonight**
Deputy Mayor Meloche chaired the meeting in the Mayor’s absence and I will give credit where credit is due. He kept the meeting moving along and did quite a good job of running it. Kudos to him!
CAO Miceli presented Mr Phil Roberts who is the new Director of Parks and Recreation. The CAO read from a long list of accomplishments to present the new manager to us. I took notes, but I did not catch it all….among what I was able to get, Mr Roberts managed the Windsor Airport, managed the City of Windsor Parks, worked for ERCA, he’s an ecologist and is involved in many environmental initiatives. He holds a Bachelor of Science and lives in Gesto. Overall, a very impressive resume. Congratulations Mr Roberts and welcome!
Delegations (Supplementary agenda)
When I arrived, there was a supplementary agenda with 2 delegations. The first one was:
1st Special Service Force Memorial Project – Tim Rousseau, Jeff Turner, Craig Haines and Brad Krewench
Mr Rousseau addressed council on behalf of the Kings Navy Yard Park Special Service Force, Amherstburg Committee. (I hope I got that right?–I take my notes by hand….) He said he was there to recognize members of the 1st Special Service and that they are a not for profit organization. He recognized Mr Ralph Mayville who was in attendance tonight. Mr Mayville served in World War 2 and he was welcomed with warm applause. Mr Rousseau said they’re currently working with administration to determine the location for 2 plaques to honour the veterans of the Special Service Force. His group will cover all of the costs, they simply want to honour the veterans and were looking for council to direct administration to help them find a location for the plaques. Needless to say, council was quite enthusiastic about this and it carried.
Off-Road Vehicle Use on Municipal Roadways – Kevin Schmidt and Shawn Ellenberger, Essex County ATV Club
This delegation was also on the supplementary agenda. This debate went on at some length, however, again I have to give credit where credit is due. Everybody was very respectful at all times during the debates and questions. It was very refreshing. I think the members of council were actively listening to the delegates but also to the information being provided. Overall, if all debates could be this respectful, we could get a lot accomplished in Amherstburg. Kudos to ALL involved in this discussion.
Mr Schmidt (I think) did most of the talking. He expressed that his ATV club was not in support of the recommendations from administration and feel them to be negative. (Administration had recommended to simply accept the report about Off-Road Vehicle use on municipal roadways and then for council to take no further action at this time. Therefore not to create a new bylaw about using roads for ATV’s.) He felt that it weighed too heavily on perception versus reality. Mr Schmidt explained that the public meeting had 80 people in attendance and that they were all in favour. He also pointed out that 80% of the survey respondents were in favour of ATV use on shoulder lanes. He explained that on their property, the ATV drivers drive properly and have insurance. Mr Schmidt met with ERCA and they agreed to disagree on this particular issue. He was looking to find people a legal place to ride and that it would make trespassing less likely. He pointed out that the Windsor Police Service has access to 4 ATV’s. He also pointed out that they were looking for access on the rural roads, not the urban areas.
Council had many thoughtful questions and comments. I’ll summarize to try to save myself some key strokes. Councillor Renaud wondered, since the County did not support ATV use on roads, how the town could address this. Mr Schmidt seemed to think that it was okay to use county roads if only for a short jaunt. Councillor Courtney said he had concerns with opening this to the general public and acknowledged that this particular ATV group was very responsible. He felt that the club is making due for the moment by trailering their ATV’s. He also pointed out that ERCA is opposed to this and he is on the ERCA Board, so he should respect that. He mentioned that there are E-bike problems in the City. Councillor Courtney expressed concerns about safety as well, citing lose gravel and other issues. Councillor Courtney felt that he would be supporting the recommendation from administration. Mr Schmidt pointed out that snowmobiles are able to use these areas and that ATV’s should be able to as well.
Councillor McArthur spoke and said how impressed he is with the organization and wondered if ATV use could have an impact on tourism. He did acknowledge that concession roads would probably be palatable for ATV use. Councillor McArthur asked about their experiences driving in the Chatham/Kent area doing charity runs. Mr Schmidt acknowledged that they were not allowed downtown in Chatham but they were able to stop at establishments on the outskirts.
Deputy Mayor Meloche acknowledged that the land the club currently uses is just down the road from where he lives and he’s never seen or heard of any problems and commended them for being responsible drivers. Mr Schmidt explained that they’re not looking at being on the road, simply short term to get from point A to point B.
Councillor Prue asked about the data provided from the Chatham Chief of Police that cited a 43% increase in property damage and noise complaints since they’ve begun allowing ATV use in their area. Councillor Prue also asked about safety concerns and concerns about the environmentally sensitive areas. Administration clarified that they received the data in February from the Police Chief after a one year trial. Ms Rubli also echoed concerns from the town’s insurance company regarding collisions. It seems that Amherstburg has had one ATV collision in 2017 and another in 2019, even though ATV’s are not currently permitted…..
Councillor McArthur seemed prepared to proceed with caution and request administration to prepare a proposed area, with parameters, for a trial period for ATV use. He again expressed appreciation for the group being patient with the process. Councillor Simone seemed to agree with this and expressed her thanks to the group for answering all of her questions during a phone call.
Finally, after some more discussion and Q&A, Councillor Prue said that with the County’s opposition to this (and ERCA’s), he felt it could not be opened up to all of Amherstburg. He made a motion for staff to meet with the County and with ERCA etc to find a trial area for the ATV’s to have off road use. Councillor Renaud seconded it. He felt that the town could chose an area, study it and see if it could be a possibility, then try and it…..and either continue if all goes well, or not. Sort of handle all of this in phases it seemed. It finally went to a vote and it passed 3 to 2. It wasn’t a recorded vote, but I watched :
Support : Councillors Prue, Courtney and Renaud.
Opposed : Councillors McArthur and Simone
Another Delegation- not on the agenda, supplementary or regular
Councillor Prue made a motion to waive the rules of order to allow a delegate who was not on the agenda to speak. It was for Ms Sharon Colman to speak regarding Centennial Park. Councillor Simone seconded it and it carried, so Ms Colman went to the podium.
Deputy Mayor Meloche clarified that this matter is not for public discussion at the moment, but that she could speak.
Ms Colman thanked council to allow her to discuss Centennial Park. She gave a brief history of how the park came to exist. She expressed concern for the remaining 12 acres that had not been sold to the school board. She cited a bylaw number about the naming of the park. She listed former Mayor Smith’s many accomplishments. She said that Centennial Park is the town’s third busiest park and is within safe walking distance to 3 schools. She felt that the remaining land should have never been declared surplus and that the taxpayers were never consulted. She asked council to pass a motion tonight to prohibit any future sale of the park. She said there are rumours that it will be sold and wants council to protect it. (Note……don’t even get me started about the rumours in this town……UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Then, CAO Miceli spoke and he laid it all out. He took us all for a walk down memory lane on how we got to where we are today……I’ll try to add some old news articles if you need a full memory refresher.
The CAO said there is a lot of misinformation circulating regarding Centennial Park. He wanted it to be clear how it was suggested to the previous council how this park land would have a better use.
In February 2015, the previous council hired a consultant, the Leardi Law Firm, to guide them through the PARC process. (That was the process about closing high schools….which ones etc…..) The previous council waived their own rules and hired, unprocured and untendered the Leardi Law Firm to represent them. (Side note….usually when council hires anyone for anything, it goes out to tender, or Request for Proposal and people or companies have to apply for a specific task.) Mr Leardi sent in an unsolicited letter with an offer and council simply accepted it and agreed to pay him $12,000 for his services. Here is an article from February 2015 if you need a refresher :
https://rivertowntimes.com/council-tabs-leardi-law-firm-to-assist-in-parc-review/
If you take the time to read the article please note this quote from former Councillor Pouget : ““I think it’s really prudent for us to save the school and the heartache to go along with it,” she said, adding Leardi should appear before council before anything is finalized so council can approve his plan.” This will be important soon.
The CAO went on that on September 14, 2015 Mr Leardi presented his recommendations to council. Mr Leardi recommended that all 28 acres be sold for the new high school and he asked for council to support that so that he could offer it to the school board at a meeting scheduled for the next night.
Here are the motions :
I recall being at that meeting, even though it was some time ago. It was before I started blogging but I know I still have my notes. I may dig them out later to take a look. It seems to me (and based on the motion) that Mr Leardi wasn’t on the agenda but asked to speak since the Board meeting was the next night.
Mr Leardi was in attendance with Mr Ron LeClair that evening, who was the School Board Trustee. Council approved Mr Leardi’s recommendation and council seemed to feel that the park was a good spot for a new high school. (I can remember many concerns about the local restaurants and businesses suffering at lunch hour should the new high school be located at the Libro Centre…..)
So, CAO Miceli pointed out tonight that council hired a consultant to represent them and then the consultant offered the park, the pool, the ball diamonds and the skate park for the location of the new school. The CAO made it very clear that administration did not offer the park, that the consultant, Mr Leardi did and council approved it. The CAO pointed out that the remaining 12 acres are the subject of in-camera discussions and can’t be discussed. CAO Miceli pointed out that ALL of the process about the high school was done, including the 28 acres in public meetings. (Yes it was…..I sat through at least 2 if not perhaps 3 of Mr Leardi’s presentations…...) The CAO clarified that the 12 acres is not surplus land. He said that when the previous council took the action of declaring all of the 28 acres as surplus, then only sold a little over 15 acres and nothing has been done with the 12 acres that remain.
At this point, former Councillor Pouget called out from the gallery something about then why are they doing soil samples? Deputy Mayor Meloche immediately cut her off for being out of order and looked for a motion to receive the delegation. This happened very quickly and the meeting moved on quite quickly.
Consent Correspondance
Bottled Water – City of Quinte West Resolution
It seems that the City of Quinte is trying to reduce the use of plastic water bottles. Councillor Prue felt that Amherstburg should look at doing the same. He noted that the Libro has a bottle refilling station, to encourage people to use washable bottles. He made a motion, something along the lines for administration to look into options for not selling bottled water at the Libro. This carried.
And that was about it. The meeting wrapped up about 7:20. It wasn’t very long, but it certainly had some pretty interesting moments…….Overall, I have to give kudos to council tonight…..Deputy Mayor Meloche ran a tight ship and everybody seemed to be open to dialogue and active listening. It was pretty refreshing. It was also quite interesting to take such a walk down memory lane……to how we got to where we are regarding Centennial Park.
Now, I’ll enjoy my next two weeks off until we meet again. 🙂
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