Monday September 23rd regular town council meeting

I arrived tonight around 5:30, about halfway through the first “open mic” session, in which the public can talk to council about any of their concerns or questions. I listened from the lobby area for a while. I didn’t take notes during this time. The open mic session wrapped up around 5:55. It seemed that towards the end the Deputy Mayor would call to see if anyone else wanted to speak, there would be a pause, then someone would go up. I notice a few people spoke more than once. I’m not sure how many spoke in total. I will continue to reserve a final judgement on this “open mic” for the residents idea, but at the moment, let’s just say I found it “meh”, lukewarm I guess. I am going to guess it’s going to go one of two ways……it will eventually lose steam and die OR it will continue to be the same people every two months addressing council (and maybe even about the same things?). Either way, for myself personally, if I ever have an issue, I prefer to email council, but that’s just me. I guess this gives people another option.

The regular meeting started shortly after 6:00.

**Mayor DiCarlo and Councillor Courtney were absent tonight.**

Disclosure of Pecuniary Interest & General Nature Thereof

Councillor Prue said that he was declaring a conflict for item # 7 since his wife, Shirley Curson-Prue would be addressing council. It seems the Integrity Commissioner said that Councillor Prue didn’t have a conflict in this instance, however, Councillor Prue said he would refrain from voting.

Councillor Renaud said for item 8.2 (the 2020 User fees bylaw) that he is the President of Minor Hockey but he doesn’t have children or grandchildren that play but just wanted to point it out as a point of interest.

There was an in-camera meeting held on September 18th, but council had nothing further to report out from that meeting.

DELEGATIONS

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October Initiatives – Alison Baldwin, Gisele Seguin
& Cristina Naccarato, Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation

The three ladies named above addressed council. Ms Baldwin spoke about her friend being diagnosed with breast cancer and she wanted to participate in this fundraising campaign to save lives. She (and others) will be fundraising to raise funds for a life-saving 3D digital mammography machine. She wants to go out in October and kick cancer to the curb!

Ms Seguin spoke about supporting Ms Baldwin and that this machine gets better images and can detect cancer faster. 100% of the funds collected are for the machine, and no money goes toward administration charges. Ms Naccarato spoke about kicking off the fundraising efforts at the beginning of the summer and listed various businesses and organisations that have been donating and participating in fundraisers.

After the presentation, Deputy Mayor Meloche said that he would make a $50 donation tonight. (and he later did).

There was a motion made to allow the ladies to set up a table (at no charge) at the Libro Center on the 3rd Saturday in October to raise funds. They will also be “hitting the streets” with pledge forms.

Please keep them in mind, Amherstburg, if and when they come knocking at our doors.

So, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month in Amherstburg and the fundraising initiatives will be in full spring for this new machine!

Belle Vue Conservancy Status Report – Shirley Curson-Prue, President, Belle Vue
Conservancy

Mrs Curson-Prue addressed council and noted that she had last been before council in May asking the town to find major sponsors for Belle Vue but has not heard anything yet. She said that the 2017 and 2018 funds had been used for the roof and they were left with about $46,000 and started the window project. In June, Ms Curson-Prue said that the Amherstburg Community Foundation advised the Conservancy that they will no longer issue tax receipts for Belle Vue. Initially the Conservancy was not incorporated since the ACF held the funds for them, however when the new ACF board announced the changes, the Conservancy had to incorporate immediately to be able to issue receipts.

At the moment, the Conservancy is waiting on a registered charity number from the CRA and they are still hosting fundraisers. However, total donations are down since there is no on line donation available at the moment and they are unable to issue tax receipts.

Councillor Simone wondered if the town could use the Miracle League’s number until the CRA approves the Conservancy’s charitable number. The Treasurer pointed out that there is no council policy on this type of issue.

The CAO said that anyone can make a donation to the town but if they receive money, for example for the Miracle League, then they have to report the funds and release the funds separately and that administration would need a policy. There was some more discussion and finally council decided to facilitate the donations, issue the tax receipts and hold the money until the Conservancy gets their charitable status.

Development Charges Background Study and By-law 2019-083

This looked to be the final steps necessary for council to approve some amended development charges in Amherstburg. The public consultation was held, reports are in and it seems to be time to finalize this.

Somebody from Everjonge Homes spoke (I didn’t catch his name). He felt that the increase in development fees would make Amherstburg less competitive. He felt that the increase could make people think twice about building in Amherstburg. He noticed the date for the new fees was tomorrow and felt that the developers weren’t given any notice. He thought that the fees would stay as is until the end of 2019. He felt that the developers should have been given advance notice.

Councillor Prue said he had several questions. He wondered if other municipalities are doing the same and if Amherstburg is pricing itself out of the market. The Treasurer said that a lot of municipalities are going through this and that Amherstburg’s fees are going up but they’re not the highest. They are in line with others, such as Lakeshore.

The was a lady (again I didn’t catch her name) that spoke many times throughout the discussion. She was a development charge professional (and I’m not even sure if I got that right in terms of her title……). She pointed out that the town’s current bylaw expires October 4th. She said that council could pass the new fees tonight and put them in place tomorrow or up to October 4th OR council could phase it in, for example hold the current rate until a date to be determined. Councillor Prue again wondered how we compared to other municipalities.

It seems that Tecumseh and LaSalle are ahead of us Lakeshore is slightly ahead and Essex just passed new fees but they’re slightly below what ours will be. There was much discussion about if the fees should be phased in or put in place by October 4th.

Finally Councillor Renaud made a motion to extend the deadline until January 1st , therefore the new increase would go into effect December 31 2019. Councillor Simone seconded it. Councillor Prue said that he wouldn’t support the motion. He wanted to see the new fee schedule and get more money. He wanted to postpone this item until later in the evening. (The development charge expert said she could prepare new tables that would reflect a December 31st extension but would need about half an hour to do it.) Councillor Prue felt that the developers had a grace period of 10 days but Councillor Renaud felt that a grace period until the end of the year would be more fair. Councillor McArthur said that he favoured Councillor Prue’s thinking since there had been meetings and everybody knew this was coming.

The speaker from Dejong Homes spoke and said that 10 days was too fast. He said he works with the town to bring people here and that people often come to Amherstburg because it’s a better deal. They often are not considering Tecumseh or Lakeshore, but are often considering Essex or Kingsville as a location for their new home. He felt that 10 days was not a way of showing that they’re working with people trying to promote Amherstburg.

Councillor Simone asked that if it passes, council should see the new fee schedule before the end of the meeting. So, ultimately, council laid this item on the table for 30 minutes and the meeting went on. (You’ll have to keep reading to see what happened……this is a cliff hanger I guess LOL.)

2020 User Fees By-law

The municipality charges for all sorts of things. This report is about a wide variety of fees that the town charges, such as building fees, permit fees, inspection fees, marriage fees etc.. Many of the fees have increased slightly, some have remained the same and there are some new fees.

There was some discussion around a couple of the fees, but ultimately nothing too exciting, in my opinion……so I’ll save myself some key strokes and just say that it passed. I also noted it was 7:15 during the discussion which translates into I was watching the clock because the discussion was dull. Anyway, it carried and the new user fees bylaw will be in effect for 2020.

Placement of Underground Infrastructure, Curbs and Base Asphalt on Maintenance
– Kingsbridge Subdivision Phase 7A/9A

Kingsbridge Subdivision Phase 8B-1 – Acceptance of Infrastructure and Placement
of Infrastructure on Maintenance

Placement of Underground Infrastructure, Pathway, Curbs and Base Asphalt on
Maintenance – Kingsbridge Subdivision – Knobb Hill Drive Phase 2 (Whelan Avenue
to Welsh Avenue)

All three of these items passed without any discussion.

2019 KNYP Fishing Extension.docx

This was an information report that garnered quite a bit of discussion. If you recall, Council extended the fishing area in the Navy Yard Park in early June to accommodate the Silver Bass run. Councillor McArthur said he was glad that they did it. He wondered about some of the curious behaviours noted (let’s just say people weren’t using the bathrooms to do their business…..?) and wondered if the behaviours were worse than previous years or if these things seem to happen every year.

Mr Roberts, the Director of Parks and Recreation said that the town doesn’t have this problem outside of fishing season. They had complaints about abuse of the park but felt that generally with controls in place, they had mitigated the risk.

Ultimately, Councillor McArthur put forth a motion to explore the possibilities to expand fishing opportunities in Amherstburg and have one off fishing events similar to the Bob Meloche Fishing Derby……the report should come back by March. The motion carried.

Consent Other Minutes

Audit Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes

I didn’t blog about this in my pre-meeting blog and I regret that. Clearly from tonight’s discussion this was a hot topic. I’ve gone back and done a quick read to fill in the blanks a bit for myself on this one……here goes…..

The Audit Advisory Committee met and rewrote their terms of reference. Council had to approve their new terms of reference. Deputy Mayor Meloche felt that council had set up an audit committee and they received applications based on an audit committee role. He felt that these requests for changes were different from what council had wanted.

Councillor Prue made a motion to approve the terms of reference and to rename the committee to the Audit and Finance Advisory Committee. He felt that then council could amend within the terms of reference if they chose to.  Councillor Prue felt that the terms of reference originally provided took away half of the committee’s powers. Councillor Renaud wondered why wording about the Code of Conduct had been removed. Deputy Mayor Meloche seemed displeased with words about increasing credibility and reliability and felt that that inferred that the town’s guidance and oversight were not good.

Now, as I was reading through the report to try to make sense of the discussion I heard tonight, something stood out to me and it stood out big time.  And here it is :

So it seems that Councillor Prue is now the chair of the Audit Advisory Committee that now has new and expanded terms of reference. I followed the last council from almost their very first days and anybody can correct me if I’m wrong here, but I do not recall a member of council being the chair of any advisory committee. I thought the point of these committees were to have lay people involved to offer advice or ideas to council and then the members of council on the committee were there to liaise between the committee and council…..not to be the chair of a lay person committee! I am going to guess that it’s allowed for a member of council to be the chair of an advisory committee, but in my opinion, the optics on this one are bad, real bad.  I even recall sitting in a meeting  when the Audit and Finance Committee was being discussed and Councillor Prue talking about how he didn’t know much about these things (since he’s not an accountant) and now suddenly he’s the chair of the Audit and Finance Committee?

So, back to tonight’s meeting about this……Councillor McArthur talked about how last time the issue came up about the terms of reference he didn’t want to do anything that would disrupt the reporting relationship within town hall. He didn’t want members of a committee calling staff or dealing directly with staff. Councillor Prue said they’re an advisory committee and that’s it. (Which begs the question, then why the changes made to their terms of reference?)

Anyway, after some back and forth the new terms of reference and new name carried. I guess I’ll have to wait and see how this all shakes down at budget time. It should be interesting.

Development Charges Background Study and By-law 2019-083

Remember those development charges that were tabled earlier in the meeting? Here’s part two…..

The Development Charges expert came back with the new table and it was projected on the screen. This table included the numbers with the development fees not increasing until January 1st 2019, rather than tomorrow.

Councillor Prue wondered how much money it will cost the municipality. It was guessed that it could “cost” the town around $96,000 in lost revenue to wait to increase the fees until January 1st.  Councillor Prue continued to question the idea and said he will not support this motion.

Deputy Mayor Meloche felt that it was an opportunity cost and that it wasn’t a loss to the town. Councillor Prue felt the town would lose less money if waiting until October 3rd rather than December 31st. He felt that developers are not poor people and he didn’t want the taxpayers on his back since the money has to come from somewhere.

Deputy Mayor Meloche spoke again and said he doesn’t look at it as a loss. The town often defers fees for down the road and that a grace period makes sense from a business perspective. He wondered if nobody decides to build a house for 3 months is that a loss? It’s all about perspective. He felt that council should work with developers and residents building new homes.

Then things got complicated……..again………Councillor Prue wanted to divide the motion, since he wanted to vote for some of it, but against other parts of it. (Here we go! I can’t even count how many times he seems to want to either divide a motion or amend a motion or change a motion…….and I sometimes wonder if it confuses other members of council, since I can assure you it confuses me when there are divided motions, amended motions, changed motions, withdrawn motions and I’m taking notes!……I wonder why it always seems to be Councillor Prue that does this? )

So sure enough, Councillor Renaud had to withdraw his amendment since it couldn’t be divided. Then there was confusion about which motion was being put forth – Councillor Prue’s for October 3rd or Councillor Renaud’s for December 31st. Finally, Councillor Renaud’s motion was back on the floor to extend the date for the fee increases until December 31st. It went to a recorded vote :

Support : Deputy Mayor Meloche, Councillor Renaud and Councillor Simone

Opposed : Councillor McArthur and Councillor Prue

And now my personal opinion??? Thank you Councillors Renaud and Simone and Deputy Mayor Meloche! Thank you Councillor Renaud for staying focused and not allowing fancy words and moves to make things confusing.  If we want to grow and be proactive, we should work with developers and home builders in my opinion! How many councillors ran on a platform of promoting economic development yet can’t see the big picture of promoting development and giving developers and people wanting to build homes a 3 month leeway, rather than 10 days?! That just seems fair and reasonable!

New Business

Councillor McArthur made a motion for the fire Chief to bring back a report regarding fire permits, with statistics and a full report to move to a “one and done” system for fire permits.

IN-CAMERA MEETING

At the end of the meeting, council will move in-camera to discuss :

That Council move into an In-Camera Meeting of Council directly following Regular session pursuant to Section 239 of the Municipal Act, 2001, as amended, for the following reason:
Item A – Section 239(2)(b) – Personal matters about an identifiable individual, including
municipal or local board employees.

Item B was removed from the agenda.

So, it was now 8:20 PM and the public portion of the meeting was over. Phew! I was happy to see that development is being encouraged in Amherstburg (at least by some on council) but disappointed to see such bad optics overshadowing the Audit And Finance Committee. With the way the calendar falls I think I have an extra week off between meetings, so I guess I will end on that positive note! 🙂  See you then.

In preparation for Monday September 23rd regular town council meeting

Well, Monday night will be a busy one for council. There is a planning meeting at 4:00, which will be followed by the first “open mic” public session at 5:00. If you have a question or concern that you don’t want to call about or email about, any member of the public can address council from 5:00 until 6:00 about whatever they wish. I’m reserving judgement until I see for myself how that goes.

I’m squeezing this blog in this weekend in between of a lot of things to do……it will be a brief one!

The regular meeting is set to start at 6:00. The agenda is only 255 pages with a one page supplementary agenda, so not too bad over all.

Here are the highlight as I see ’em:

DELEGATIONS

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October Initiatives – Alison Baldwin, Gisele Seguin
& Cristina Naccarato, Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation

It appears that the delegates will be presenting to council about a 3D Digital Mammography Machine being installed at Windsor Regional Hospital. It seems that they want to fund raise for this initiative in Amherstburg on Saturday October 19th. There’s an informative powerpoint attached to the presentation. I’ll be listening to hear what the delegates have to say.  We’ll have to wait and see what council thinks.

Belle Vue Conservancy Status Report – Shirley Curson-Prue, President, Belle Vue
Conservancy

It seems that the Belle Vue Conservancy had to incorporate in July in order to be able to issue tax receipts. It appears that the Conservancy was using the Amherstburg Community Foundation’s charitable receipt number to issue receipts and that the Foundation has since advised the Conservancy that they will have to take steps to go on their own. The Conservancy is currently awaiting CRA approval and appears to want to advise council that , for the moment, their fundraising initiatives will not be met.

Development Charges Background Study and By-law 2019-083

This looks to be the final steps necessary for council to approve development charges in Amherstburg. The public consultation was held, reports are in and it seems to be time to finalize this. The report and bylaw are extremely lengthy……not feeling too interested in reading it all right now LOL.

2020 User Fees By-law

The municipality charges for all sorts of things. This report seems to be about a wide variety of fees that the town charges, such as building fees, permit fees, inspection fees, marriage fees etc.. Many of the fees have increased slightly, some have remained the same and there are some new fees. There are pages and pages of the fee schedule……it’s a nice weekend out there, so I just skimmed it.

Placement of Underground Infrastructure, Curbs and Base Asphalt on Maintenance
– Kingsbridge Subdivision Phase 7A/9A

This appears to simply be a maintenance item.

Kingsbridge Subdivision Phase 8B-1 – Acceptance of Infrastructure and Placement
of Infrastructure on Maintenance

Again, this appears to be a maintenance item.

Placement of Underground Infrastructure, Pathway, Curbs and Base Asphalt on
Maintenance – Kingsbridge Subdivision – Knobb Hill Drive Phase 2 (Whelan Avenue
to Welsh Avenue)

And again, more follow up on a maintenance item for the development of Kingsbridge.

2019 Second Quarter Operating Variance as at June 30, 2019

This is simply an information report to allow council to have an idea of surplus or overages in the departmental budget as of June 30th.  Overall, things look pretty good. Most departments are trending on budget or under budget, so it all seems to balance out to the good. Fingers crossed it stays that way until the end of the year.

2019 KNYP Fishing Extension.docx

This is also an information report for council. Council had decided to allow more fishing space during the June Silver Bass run. Overall, it appears that this went well. There were some small unbudgeted costs involved, however, the picture presented is that the extension was successful and well received.

Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee Minutes – September 9, 2019

When council receives the Parks and Rec Advisory Committee minutes, it appears that the Committee has several recommendations for council. They’re looking for council to approve the following recommendations :
That the following recommendations from the September 11, 2019, Parks and
Recreation Advisory Committee Meeting BE APPROVED:
● That Council direct Administration to INVESTIGATE the feasibility of placing
two or three baseball diamonds at Purdie Park for the 2020 season.
● That Council direct Administration to BRING BACK a draft definition of
Urban Amherstburg including an appendix that identifies the boundaries of
the primary and secondary settlement areas.
● That Council direct Administration to INVESTIGATE the feasibility, possible
locations, possible community partners and best practices involved in the
creation of a dog park.
● That Council direct Administration to INVESTIGATE the feasibility of
restoring the two (2) out-of-repair tennis courts at Malden Centre Park for
Pickleball use.
● That the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee recognizes the
importance of the Skate Park to the Town of Amherstburg and that Council
direct Administration to INVESTIGATE a short list of locations and costs
associated therein for relocating the Skate Park.
● That Council direct Administration to CONSIDER options for naturalizing
parks to reduce the upkeep and beautify the park in conjunction with the 50
Million Tree Program.
● That Council direct Administration to REPORT BACK on how the above
motions are referenced in the Parks Master Plan.

Phew! That’s a lot of recommendations…….

IN-CAMERA MEETING

At the end of the meeting, council will move in-camera to discuss :

That Council move into an In-Camera Meeting of Council directly following Regular session pursuant to Section 239 of the Municipal Act, 2001, as amended, for the following reason:
Item A – Section 239(2)(b) – Personal matters about an identifiable individual, including
municipal or local board employees.

Item B – Section 239(2)(b) – Personal matters about an identifiable individual,
including municipal or local board employees; and, Section 239(2)(d) – Labour relations or employee negotiations.

Overall, it looks to be a fairly light agenda. I’m hoping for a quick, peaceful and respectful meeting Monday night. After the last meeting, almost two weeks ago, that would be very refreshing I think.

Monday September 9th Regular town council meeting

I am mentally and physically exhausted. The physically part is because I held my phone up to go live on Facebook for most of the meeting……and the mentally part is because these types of meetings are just draining. People were back and forth, arguing, making rude comments, calling out comments, laughing, somebody was asked to leave due to their behaviour or comments……it felt like the meeting would never end……I left at 8:50 and only ONE item was debated……so please refer to my pre-meeting blog to see what other items were on the agenda.

On a very happy note Mayor DiCarlo was back tonight! Glad he’s doing better! Although he has my sympathies that this was what he had to come back to.

At the beginning of the meeting, there was a last minute delegation. Coucillors Courtney and Prue made a motion to waive the rules or order to allow the person to speak.

Nancy Atkinson addressed council. Mrs Atkinson said she was the vice chair of the ATA (Amherstburg Taxpayer’s Association).  She explained that it is a group of concerned taxpayers that want to approach council as a group to ask questions for people who may be afraid to do so themselves. The first meeting was August 29th. She felt that in less than a week that the CAO had labelled the group as “lobbyists”.

(Full disclosure, in my pre-meeting blog, I was up front that I attended the ATA meeting on August 29th and joined the group out of curiosity. Just putting that out there again.) 

Mrs Atkinson feels that the group is not lobbyists since they do not have clients and don’t ask for or offer incentives. She feels that the group listens to the taxpayers. She felt that this proposed bylaw will not silence the ATA but that it will silence council. She felt that the CAO is telling council that he doesn’t trust them.

(If you didn’t read my pre-meeting blog, here it is. This will give you the back story about the bylaw that Mrs Atkinson was referring to.)  https://amherstburg2.wordpress.com/2019/09/07/in-preparation-for-monday-september-9th-regular-town-council-meeting/

Deputy Mayor Meloche spoke first. It seems the idea of a lobbyist bylaw has been an item of casual discussion a little while ago when he was at the AMO conference in Ottawa. He explained that the CAO works for council and that council encourages him to bring reports to council. He said that the CAO has done a great job and if we look at the past CAO’s it’s clear that Mr Miceli is doing an admirable job for the town.

Councillor Prue questioned Deputy Mayor Meloche quite sharply about the conversations that he had with the CAO about the lobbyist bylaw, however it was quickly established that it had been a casual conversation and not specific to ATA.

Councillor McArthur spoke and said he admires the ferocity of the beliefs for Mrs Atkinson. He wondered why ATA was incorporated since that changes it from a group to a legal entity.

Mrs Atkinson said that they incorporated to give the group legal standing. She said that council needs to start listening to the people that elected them instead of an employee.

Councillor McArthur felt that the bylaw won’t silence the ATA and that what she was doing right then and there was not lobbying since it was in public.

Councillor Simone inquired about a membership fee and wondered about a board of directors and if anybody was being paid. Mrs Atkinson said that people were charged $10 to join the group as a membership fee which allows them to vote. She said that anybody can attend, listen, take notes and no one receives a dime. (Yes, the comment about taking notes was a jab at me……and they all laughed…..at me I presume……ah, well, it’s not the first time they’ve laughed at me and I doubt it will be the last. Oh and that reminds me, nobody said at the ATA meeting what my $10 was being used for……..and I’m guessing they have $520 now……?)

Anyway, Councillor Courtney spoke at great length and very quickly. It was hard to write it down and I went live on Facebook around this time.

The delegation was received so the Mayor proposed moving the report forward on the agenda and dealing with it now.

Councillor Prue talked about not dealing with the bylaw tonight and just have the discussion. He felt the bylaw itself should be deferred for a month. Councillor McArthur felt council should talk about the proposed bylaw. Councillor Prue spoke at length about his time on Toronto City Council. He found the idea of a lobbyist registry appalling and felt that what was written was not correct.

Councillor McArthur felt that a sober second thought may be a good thing about the bylaw. He didn’t feel that the town would necessarily need a list of the members but he did say that he got a lot of emails and phone calls from residents that are scared of this group. (At this point people many people starting laughing and yelling…….and right there, showed why some people in Amherstburg may be scared of this group……I believe it was at this point that Mayor DiCarlo told somebody out in the lobby that they would have to leave.) Councillor McArthur said that many people were concerned that the group did not speak for “them” and were concerned that the group would try to say they speak for the taxpayers, when in reality they only speak for the paid members I guess. Councillor McArthur felt that the fact that the group is incorporated changes everything, they’re now a legal entity with a duty to the corporation and the residents are concerned.

Mrs Atkinson said that ATA represents the concerns of the taxpayers that come to their meetings and that council members are welcome to attend.

Deputy Mayor Meloche said he didn’t have a problem with the concept of the organisation but he was concerned that the individual leading the group is the person who refused to cooperate with the Integrity Commissioner approximately one year ago during an investigation about a breach of confidentiality. That investigation cost the town about $20,000 due to a lack of cooperation. Also, it seems another member of the ATA board is involved with a lawsuit with the town and the Deputy Mayor felt that appears to be a conflict.

At this point I went live on Facebook again, it was going fast and furious……

The floor was opened to the public and then it really began…..

First up to the microphone was Justin Brodie Timms-Fryer. He questioned Deputy Mayor Meloche about which individual had a lawsuit against the town. No name was given. Then Mr Timms-Fryer said that he is the one with the lawsuit.

A recess was called. I stayed put in my chair. For good reason.

When the meeting resumed, Councillor Courtney said he didn’t want to defer he wanted to hear from the people. Mr Timms-Fryer apologized for his outburst and asked some questions about the time frame of the report. The CAO expressed that the town wishes to always promote accountability and transparency. The process would allow the public to know who is lobbying council and discussing issues. The CAO said that the article in the River Town Times came out last Wednesday and he included the details from the article in his report. While the CAO spoke, it appears that Mrs Atkinson laughed and there was a short exchange about that.

It seems that the lobbying portion only applies if the group meets in private with members of council. If they come before council only publicly, then it’s not lobbying, from what I understood.

The CAO spoke about the code of conduct, since it seems that somebody would be unable to sit on a town committee and also be a lobbyist. He said that it’s a privilege to sit on a town committee and that council should be aware if a committee member is a lobbyist. There was a lot of back and forth about this.

Councillor Courtney felt that this bylaw would label people and divide the community. He went on at length about this being a sad day and creating infighting. He said there was no respect shown tonight (well, I’ll agree with that!) but that this bylaw is censorship and we don’t need the Integrity Commissioner to intervene.

Councillor Renaud felt that we need structure. He felt it’s important to have a register of the directors and to have a structure in place. He felt that the residents need to know who and what they’re representing.

Mr Timms Fryer came to the microphone again. He mentioned how the report included the names of 2 of the directors. He then resigned as a director of the ATA.

Another resident, Mrs Ouellette, took to the microphone. She questioned why a small group of people was singled out. The CAO explained that the ATA issues a press release to the Windsor Star. Since the CAO authored the report, The Windsor Star contacted him for comment on the ATA’s press release about his report. Mrs Ouellette made a comment that the CAO benefits himself and the CAO said that he took offense at her comment. Mrs Ouellette later in the meeting apologized for her comment.

Laurie Cavanaugh from the Legion asked about when she has private meetings with certain councillors if that would be considered lobbying and it seems that it is. I couldn’t help but not she was on a first name basis with one of our councillors. But I guess I am too with a couple…..but we don’t have private meetings either I guess.

Councillor McArthur then spoke and finally said some things that needed to be said. He does feel that the community is divided. He felt that we can’t talk about ATA without talking about a Facebook page named Amherstburg Accountability Project (AAP), a closed Facebook group. He spoke about comments that he’s seen on the Amherstburg Accountability Project Facebook group. He saw one director of ATA refer to the Mayor as being “full of shit”, he’s read body shaming comments about people, he’s read comments about the CAO hiring people and covering things up and that he flouted a subpoena and both of those statements are untrue. He said he had heard that ATA wants to talk about Centennial Park and he welcomes that. Councillor McArthur said that the name calling and the body shaming has to stop to move the town forward. He welcomes ATA and wants people involved but that they have to be civil with the best interests of the town. He reminded the crowd that he was elected to represent ALL of the residents. He said that some people are afraid of what they’ve seen written on AAP and felt that it demeans us all. He felt that we wont advance the town and that it can’t be done with personal attacks.

Councillor McArthur felt that since the ATA is an official corporation that they shouldn’t hide that they should be open and with pride. He felt that having the registry would legitimize things and put all information out there giving equal access to information.

( As far as the comments in AAP go, I’ll speak for myself alone here, although I know that many others have been horribly insulted in that group. I have been called a “fat slob”, my breast size has been compared to another person’s, somebody said “fat is fat is fat” about me and others……these types of comments about me have been going on for almost a year……I’ll stop there, I doubt anybody wants to even read more of the horrible things some of the members of the board of directors of the Amherstburg Taxpayer’s Association have said about me in AAP. I’m simply sharing this to give some perspective on the comments made at tonight’s meeting.)

Councillor Prue then spoke and he was concerned that the articles of incorporation were published in the report and they included people’s address. Councillor Prue said it bothered him that names and addresses were there. Ms Rubli explained that they’re public documents. Somebody from the lobby yelled out about this being a possible lawsuit….somebody in the front row started yelling about reprisal……..(And guess what??? My address and phone number have been posted repeatedly in AAP! I believe that the two people who yelled out about lawsuits and reprisal are AAP members……time to get the mirror out guys…..Heck, one time there was even a fake document posted with my name on it, but whatever…...)

At this point it was starting to wrap up. The comments were over, a few members of council spoke. One more member of the public spoke. And after ALL of that, council accepted the report. And then I left and came home. I didn’t stay for the rest of the meeting. I missed what I am hoping was a happy time about the $250,000 grant for River Lights, but I just couldn’t stay.

After tonight, I will gladly take my two weeks off from politics. It’s draining.

As always, I’ll regroup, I’ll refresh and I’ll be ready to go, once again. It’s what I do. 🙂

And if you are interested in hearing more of the insults written about me by board members of this Taxpayer group, let me know.

 

 

 

In preparation for Monday September 9th regular town council meeting

Monday night’s agenda is only 290 pages, so not too bad! Maybe the meeting won’t last too long Monday night??

Here are the highlights as I see ’em:

Council will meet in-camera first to discuss :

SPECIAL IN-CAMERA COUNCIL MEETING
That Council move into an In-Camera Meeting of Council at 4:30 p.m. pursuant to Section
239 of the Municipal Act, 2001, as amended, for the following reason:
Item A – Meloche Road – Section 239(2)(f) – Advice that is subject to solicitor-client
privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose.

The regular meeting is set to start at 6:00.

External Audit Services 2019-2023 – RFP Results

Every 5 years council has to send out an RFP for external audit services for the town’s finances. I believe this is a requirement of the municipal act. It looks like the prices are in and KPMG is being recommended to provide audit services once again for the next 5 years.

Administration is looking for direction from council regarding hiring KPMG at an extra $4,200 to review 4th quarter cash financial results, which is an optional service.

The Audit Committee is in agreement with hiring KPMG for 5 years to perform auditing duties. The Audit Committee was consulted and does not support the optional service of reviewing 4th quarter cash financial results.

We’ll see what council decides to do.

Canadian Experiences Fund Grant – River Lights Winter Festival

What great news! The tourism department was successful in securing a $250,000 grant to enhance the River Lights Winter Festival!

From the report :

Some of the main activities to complete the project are:

• Lengthening Amherstburg River Lights Winter festival from two to four months
• Purchase and installation of additional energy efficient light attractions
• Create an electrical plan and work order for electrical upgrades in both parks
• Purchase of new recycling and refuse stations
• Create new marketing campaign with large U.S. visitor focus through new
  signage; social media campaign; billboards and radio; publications or digital
  marketing
• Expanding new Canadian Culture programming for the enhanced festival
• Visitor experience packages including local restaurants, wineries and craft
  breweries
• Work with Amherstburg Chamber of Commerce and local businesses to create
  shopping experiences and promotions through “Light Up the Town” program

I attended the Gil Penalosa speaker event a few weeks back and one of his recommendation was to have more lights during the winter months. Not only to make things pretty and bright but to attract people to our parks during the cold, long and dark months of winter. This grant will allow Amherstburg to do just that! I can hardly wait! I’m sure it will be beautiful!

CWATS Segment AMH-06 – Alma Street Paved Shoulders (Fryer Street to Meloche
Road)

It looks like the town has received partial funding to have paved shoulders on Alma Street from Fryer Street to Meloche Road. Council will have to decide if they want to move ahead with this initiative in order to plan for the rest of the expense in the 2020 budget. Again, another great initiative for active living that would join together some major roads to make them safe for cyclists and pedestrians.

Special Events Approval- Part IV

And a few more events for 2019 need council’s approval :

Legion Week Parade – September 14, 2019
Remembrance Day Parade – November 11, 2019
Super Santa Run – November 16, 2019
Opening Ceremonies and Tree Lighting – November 16, 2019
River Lights – November 16, 2019 – January 6, 2020
Holiday House Tour – November 23-24, 2019
Santa Claus Parade – November 23, 2019

Some of the events require noise bylaw exemptions or street closure exemptions, some require no exemptions but need council’s permission to proceed. I would guess that these will be approved very quickly.

Establishing a Lobbyist Registry and Appointing a Lobbyist Registrar

It looks like there’s a new political lobbying group in town. There is a report coming before council recommending that the new lobby group be registered as a lobbyist group. It seems that the group wants to lobby council about various issues that are of concern to them. The report refers time and again to the Municipal Act, since that is the governing body for council and administration and even now this new group.

The new group went to the time and expense to become incorporated with the government. This bylaw (if it’s accepted) would mean that the group would have to register as a lobbyist group. As I understand it, the group would have to go first to the Integrity Commissioner with the issues that they want to lobby council about. The Integrity Commissioner would keep a registrar of the members of this group and when they lobby any members of council.

This bylaw would hold the group accountable and keep our governance process transparent for council and ALL residents. From the report : “Improving the accountability and transparency of the Town with the adoption of a Lobby Registry will protect and maintain the Town’s reputation and integrity. Members of Council must recognize and act upon the principal that democracy is best achieved when the operation of government is made as transparent and accountable to members of the public in accordance with the Municipal Act.”

According to the report, the articles of incorporation show that the group was originally incorporated by Anthony Leardi, Bob Rozankovic and Nancy Atkinson.

The group met on August 29th to elect a new board of directors, which now consists of Bob Rozankovic (chair), Nancy Atkinson (vice chair) and 5 directors : David Wharram, Tim Gray, John McDonald, Gregory Moore and Justin Brodie Timms-Fryer.

In the interest of full disclosure, accountability and transparency, I want my readers to know that I attended the group’s meeting on August 29th. I was curious about the group and decided to join. The group charged a $10 membership fee.

From the report (to explain what is a lobbyist): “Lobbying is the communicating by a lobbyist with a public office holder about matters that are the subject of municipal government decisions.

Lobbying is a legitimate activity that must be done transparently. In an effort to ensure that the Town continues to enhance its accountability and transparency efforts and to further promote this to the community, a Lobbyist Registry is being recommended to Council for the Town of Amherstburg.

The purpose of a Lobbyists Registry is to provide openness and transparency to the public with respect to who is lobbying Council and for what purpose. There are many
municipalities across Ontario such as Toronto, Hamilton, Brampton and the Region of
Peel that have enacted a Lobbyist Registry to ensure that the public can clearly see who
is lobbying the public office holders in the Town in an attempt to influence the decision
making process.”

In my personal opinion, I think this group should be registered as a lobby group. ALL residents should be fully aware of who the members are and what their concerns are. I completely respect people’s right to lobby for something or an issue however, it should be done in a very transparent and accountable way for everyone.

According to a recent news article, the group has 52 members. I feel that if people want to create a corporation and lobby council about local issues, they should do so in a fully transparent process. I don’t see a problem at all with the creation of a lobby registrar. In my opinion, it protects everyone…..council, administration, the group members and ultimately every single tax payer in Amherstburg.  The group would also be upheld to a code of conduct, like council and staff are. I think that’s important. I’ve attended many council meetings and people’s conduct should be upheld to a certain standard.  I also feel that if a group wants to address council and speak as representatives of a group, everybody should know how many people they represent and who those people are.

I feel very strongly,  in order to maintain public trust in our local government, the lobbyist registrar bylaw should be adopted. Keeping the processes open, transparent and accountable in all directions is in the best interest of all.

I am anticipating an interesting debate on this issue Monday night.

INFORMATION REPORTS

There are a ton of information reports and consent correspondence reports, but I’ve got a busy weekend ahead……so I think I’ll wrap it up right here. See you Monday night! 🙂