Warning. This blog will be a long one. It’s an entire year in review! Maybe council’s long meetings are starting to affect me too…..?
Well, here we are. This blog marks the end of council’s second full year. This blog also marks the end of 2020, one of the weirdest years in history that won’t soon be forgotten. I became a “council watcher” as I was dubbed early on, in early 2015. I started blogging in 2016 and my blog will be soon celebrating it’s 5th anniversary! Thank you to all of you, my faithful readers and followers for coming along for the ride. I know there are some that read the blog out of pure curiosity, just to see what’s going on. Some read it because they get me and my humour. Some read it because they tend to agree with some or many of my points of view. And some read it because they don’t agree with any of my points of view and they like to pick it apart. Regardless of why you read, thank you for following. Thank you for trying to stay informed with our local politics. It’s not an easy task to read 400 plus pages of agendas every two weeks, to give a little preview of the issues and then summarize it all when it’s over. This year became extra challenging when the only option became watching the meetings on a computer. But I survived, I made it to the end of 2020 and managed to keep a good eye on council the whole time. But as the year dragged on, so did the meetings…..LOL
I spent some time rereading old blogs from 2020 to try to get my thoughts together for this year end review. I tried to find some highlights and some lowlights for our council for this year. There were definitely some stand out moments. Luckily council started live streaming in January. Talk about good timing! So, fortunately, I was able to transition to watching the meetings from home right away. There were some pros and cons to watching from home. It took me a few meetings to work through the technical glitches, but by mid-spring, I had a new routine. And new routines followed for my faithful readers too. Up until March of 2020, I almost always had the blog done and posted on the very same night as the meeting. That changed this year. At first, it was the technical difficulties that held me back and had me typing up the blogs on Tuesday evenings. Then it became the marathon meetings……the lengthy shows of “who can talk the most” or “who can talk in circles the most” or “how many run on sentences can I say in one meeting” or “maybe I’ll offer up amendments to motions to try to confuse everybody on council” or “I think I want to hear my own voice again”……maybe my readers have other ideas for possible titles for the 2020 council meetings?
So, in no particular order here are some of the stand out moments of 2020 for our town council.
Noise by-law
I know this seems like a distant memory now, but January 2020 actually started out with a study, a report and a big debate about the noise bylaw. Mr Novak, a sound engineer, presented his study of the noise decibels coming from the Legion patio music to the building across the street. There was also a delegation about a noise complaint coming from the SunParlour R/C Flyers Club. Long story short, council was looking to amend the bylaw and set what they felt would be an acceptable decibel level. (Of course the recommendation of the sound engineer didn’t seem to hold much merit for council…..unfortunately paid professionals seem to be largely ignored by this council too……why listen to paid professionals when we have google? Or volunteer committees? ) Mention was made that a new bylaw could possibly be ready for the spring but that public consultation would be needed if it were to be amended. Who would have known that fateful January night that come spring, the world would be shut down and no music would be allowed? I don’t believe the issue came back before council the rest of the year……not that it was a pertinent issue anymore……perhaps when the pandemic is over, it will be time to get this figured out once and for all.
The new high school
In January, Councillor Courtney brought up the new high school. He said he had fielded concerns regarding the new building. Things such as the loss of the third gym, loss of a mechanical shop, lockers, grass and other things had been brought forward and he actually wondered if it were possible to just keep the old school. (Um……anybody who was awake knew that this new school was a done deal, the board had purchased the property on Simcoe Street and had developed site plans…..) Council decided to send some letters to the provincial government about what type of features the new high school should have.
Later in the year, the school was discussed again a few times. And finally, in November, the new high school broke ground! That was very good news!
Environmental Advisory Committee
Normally, a new committee wouldn’t be a highlight or a lowlight…..it’s generally not something that would stand out…..but this one was a little bit different…..Late in 2019, council had made a motion for a new committee to be formed, the Environmental Advisory Committee. In February, when the report came back, council didn’t seem pleased that there would be costs involved to implement this new committee. They also felt that the qualifications required to be on the committee were too stringent……one moment stood out then and it still stands out now…..Councillor Courtney felt that people may not have a degree but that people have educated themselves with Google or have become “self-taught” and should not be required to have formal education about the environment to be on the committee. (yup…..and shockingly, later in 2020 council decided to remove money from the budget for their own training…..because I guess they can just google how to be a councillor?…..maybe later I’ll just Google how to perform an appendectomy and apply to be a surgeon…..so ridiculous……but I digress…..) Another thing that stood out to me about this new committee was that a couple members of council often brought up that the committee could look at planning matters. This didn’t sit right with me then and it still doesn’t sit right with me now. Would this new committee be used to stall development in the name of “saving a species” or “protecting the environment”?……this current council hasn’t exactly welcomed development with open arms……they stalled the new downtown hotel development by making the developers jump through hoops to create parking……they stalled the greenhouse development because council had “questions”….(that is a story all it’s own that you will read a little further down the page)……
Personally, I think that an Environmental Committee can be a very good thing and is an important facet to all levels of government. However, IF and only IF it’s mandate is clear. They shouldn’t have anything to do with planning. ERCA already has a heavy hand in local planning matters.
THEN in April……when town hall was short-staffed…..staff had been redeployed and / or laid off due to the pandemic…..Concillor Prue was concerned that the positions for this new committee had not yet been advertised…..and then Councillor Courtney brought up some old issue about an Emergency Response Committee that had existed eight years prior……We were at the height of a global pandemic, everything was closed, including town hall, and this was a high level of concern for these two members of council. Seemed like some really skewed priorities to me. It stood out to me then and I still remember it now. But the councillors can rest easy now, the Committee was formed and established later in 2020. And after a lot of time talking about an Emergency Response Committee and a detailed report about it, it was also laid to rest……since the committee had not existed for many years. It seemed like two really odd priorities when the world was shut down. Literally.
March 2020
On March 9th, I attended what would become my last in-person meeting in 2020. I re-read the blog and have to note two things…..it seems that that meeting was over all a very good one AND it wrapped up in less than two hours…..something I would never see again in 2020. Who knew?
For anyone that’s interested, here’s the link to that now very famous and ominous “last in-person meeting” LOL. https://amherstburg2.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/monday-march-9th-regular-town-council-meeting/
Then, shortly afterwards, Amherstburg declared a state of Emergency, as well as the provinces and the countries and just like that, in-person meetings were a thing of the past. I watched my first live-stream meeting later in the month of March.
Marathon Meetings – The show must go on!
Watching the meetings from home changed everything and not just for me. Once the meetings went completely online, they started to become longer and longer and longer……they often didn’t wrap up until close to 10:00. Several times there were motions to extend the meetings past 10:00 and they continued on and on…..in fact, council’s last meeting in December was the grand finale. For real. The meeting was STILL going, with no end in sight at 10:00. There was a motion made to extend it for another hour until 11:00……there was a 3-3 tied vote…..the Mayor took a 5 minute recess, then came back to call the meeting for the night. Council had to meet again on the Friday of the same week for FIVE MORE HOURS to finish Monday night’s meeting……so that one regular meeting took over NINE hours from start to finish. Some may say “oh how wonderful! Council is working so hard!” However others may say “What a waste of time and energy.” Personally, I say that that shows a HUGE lack of efficiency. In general, meetings that drag on and on are not productive and are very inefficient. Council meetings are no different.
I’m not sure why the meetings started to get so ridiculously long…..was it the lack of the live audience? Not seeing people get up and leave around 7:30 or 8:00? (That used to happen all the time.) Not seeing people’s facial expressions as their eyes glazed over? Were the councillor’s chairs just too comfortable at home? Did they just really enjoy hearing themselves that much? Did they forget they were at a council meeting and think they were making a movie? I don’t know what the reason was but if the trend continues they’ll be having meetings three nights per week in no time.
Open Air Weekends
Open Air Weekends became a huge hit and a highlight of our pandemic summer! Councillor McArthur brought forward an idea to open up the streets and administration made it happen! Patios were extended out into the streets each weekend and the streets downtown were closed to traffic. And it was FANTASTIC!!!!! Now, I will admit I really enjoy an outdoor patio……but to see people outside, walking around, enjoying the beautiful weather and supporting our local businesses after a three month shutdown was so great to see! Even the restaurants that weren’t directly downtown expanded their patios into their parking lots (Speck’s, Maria’s, Shooter’s, Gilligan’s, The Fort, to name a few-sorry if I missed anyone! ) and were able to enjoy some success from this initiative! Open Air Weekends was definitely a highlight of 2020 for Amherstburg!
The CAO’s performance review
Council had voted in the fall of 2019 for the CAO to have a performance review. In fact, council decided to spend almost $10,000 for this comprehensive performance review. Well, the results came back in June 2020 and they were quite impressive!
The CAO was evaluated using a 360 degree peer review process, which means they consulted with council, peers, direct reports and key community stakeholders. Among the competency areas selected by council for review were : Visioning, In-Depth Problem Solving and Analysis, Decisive Judgement, Championing Change, Relationship Management, Teamwork and Collaboration, Planning and Organizing, Driving for Results, Continuous Improvement, Team Leadership, Resilience, Business Acumen, Integrity, and Courage of Convictions. (Phew! That’s a very exhaustive list!) These criteria for evaluation were evaluated from a wide variety of perspectives, including an in-depth behavioral interview and interviews with other individuals. And low and behold, as per the final evaluation, CAO Miceli demonstrated above average skills and abilities within all of the competency criteria that were evaluated. Congratulations Mr Miceli! And congratulations Amherstburg to be able to have such a competent, qualified CAO at the helm.
The thing I find most interesting from this is that I think that a few on council wanted this job evaluation done as a means of trying to find a way to dismiss the CAO. Council agreed to spend almost $10,000 on this performance appraisal. At this point, with such a stellar review, what will council do if the CAO requests a pay raise? I think one should be very careful what they wish for…..Council wanted this evaluation done so badly when a very small segment of the population was calling for the CAO’s dismissal…..and now here we are…..an above average performance review for the CAO……
Interestingly, it was a big deal for the CAO to have a performance review done, yet the report was quietly accepted with little fanfare. I’m guessing that’s because the evaluation didn’t say what a few were hoping it would say.
At large VS Ward system
In August 2019, council had asked for a report about the possibility of a ward system for the next election. The report came back in the spring of 2020. Councillor Courtney brought this initiative forward and it was strongly supported by Councillor Prue. Councillor Simone made a motion for this issue to be placed on the ballot in 2022. (Yes, a referendum……ugh!!!!) In order for the question to be on the ballot, there has to be a public meeting the year of the election…..and for the decision of the vote to be binding……wait for it……50% of the people must vote in the election and 50% of the people must vote yes or no about a ward system. Then, it seemed that Councillor Prue did not like the 5 ward system that was presented and wanted it to be 3 wards with two representatives for each……(hmmmmm…….is that because he and Councillor Courtney would have to run against each other in the same ward if it were just one representative for 5 wards? And a 3 ward system? Why? So we can go backwards to Malden, Amherstburg and Anderdon again? How things used to be? Just a thought…..) Councillor Courtney spoke about taking great pride in this initiative……(funny, it’s been brought up by every single council since amalgamation….) Deputy Mayor Meloche noted that council currently has representation from all over Amherstburg as did previous councils. However, he and Councillor Renaud wanted to open this up to the public. (I am again rolling my eyes, all these months later…..we had our referendum, we opened up issues to the public, it was the 2018 election…..we elected 7 people to make the decisions, the easy ones and the hard ones……although reading back on this debate, it is an eye opener of why this current council seems to have difficulty making decisions and being efficient. I can still remember watching this meeting and the sense of frustration and lack of leadership shown……) Until…..and I remember this so well too…..Councillor McArthur spoke……
Councillor McArthur felt that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. He felt that the current system serves our town well. He also felt that the whole is greater than the parts and that is what makes Amherstburg, Amherstburg. He said that he can do it all, on his bike, from one end of town to the other in a few hours. Councillor McArthur said that he got an email from a resident who was a member of the amalgamation committee from 1997. He cited part of that letter to us and I took the time to go find it, it was well worth it. Here it is : “Cooperation, not confrontation, is necessary to build a new municipality. A better local government will result when every member of council is compelled to examine every issue with regard to how all rate payers will be affected by his/her decision.”
Councillor McArthur felt these words were wise words then and are wise words now. He felt that yes, people feel left out, but wards won’t solve the problem. We currently have a diverse council and one of their very first expenditures was on a park in River Canard and then some concession roads. He felt that with an at-large system everybody has a chance, whereas a ward system could create parochial or one-issue candidates. He also cited that had we had a ward system in 2018, there would be so many great people he would never have met. He felt he could see the strengths and weaknesses to both systems but that the current at-large system is good. He said the issue has come up again and again and that things work well and there has been little interest overall in a ward system. He also felt that the at-large system works better for the people, but the ward system works better for the politicians. He stated all of this so eloquently and factually that it is worth re-watching the live feed of the meeting if you’re interested in this issue. (June 20, 2020)
Ironically, after Councillor McArthur spoke, Councillor Courtney said he didn’t want to see this issue kicked down the road. (This has been a recurring theme for Amherstburg, issues getting kicked down the road……like tax increases and budget items…..yet some on council say issues aren’t kicked down the road???? Yet here we were…..)
That night, it was reported that our voter turnout was 42% in 2018, it was 47% in 2014 and 67% in 2010. The reason for the higher turn out in 2010 is that the council of the day opted for mail in ballots. The Clerk mentioned that she would present options for the election closer to the 2022 election, like she did with the last council, with options such as internet voting, which helps bring up the percentage of voters. (Don’t forget it has to be 50% to be binding for the referendum question about wards).
Councillor Prue said he had concerns. He felt that mail in ballots could be okay but he doesn’t like the idea of internet voting. He also felt a ranked ballot could be done easily in a ward system. He felt it had never been done before but the Clerk pointed out that London Ontario opted for the choice of ranked voting in 2018 and she’s been watching it closely ever since. I believe since this meeting in June 2020, the province has brought forward more changes to the election act that affect ranked voting among other issues. I’m sure the end of 2021 will see a lot more discussion for the process of the next municipal election in October 2022.
But low and behold, the motion passed. The Clerk will have to present another ward option (with 3 wards instead of 5) to council and the ward question will be on the ballot…..I wonder instead of calling them Ward 1, Ward 2 and Ward 3, they could just be named Amherstburg, Anderdon and Malden? Yes, I’m being facetious but just can’t help but notice that this ward issue will likely only serve to divide and regress our great town…..
In Amherstburg, if you take the time to go back to every council elected since amalgamation, you will see that we’ve always had old Anderdon and old Malden representation, as we do now on the current council. As well, in my opinion, from a Councillor’s point of view a ward system would probably make their job easier and would definitely make their election/re-election easier. I feel that from the town perspective it will just ingrain the us (rural) vs. them (old Amherstburg) mentality, which would be really unfortunate. There’s probably a very good reason that the amalgamation reports and recommendations weighed heavily against a ward system. We need to be one community, united as Amherstburg.
If you look at our at-large results of 2018 for council, the spread from 4th place finisher to 8th place was only 185 votes. With a ward system, especially with only two “winners” and fewer people running, it would be difficult for a non-incumbent to win an election. Our Deputy Mayor race saw a difference of 4 votes which sealed the deal for the winner in 2018. That created a “only one person can win” for Deputy Mayor, which council seems to want to eliminate by having 3 wards. Why do they want to eliminate risk for the people running? Could it be for selfish reasons to improve chances for re-election? Who will represent us on County Council if this council eliminates the Deputy Mayor position and it becomes a councillor’s role, on a rotation basis? Also, the 2018 Mayoral race brought forward a one-issue candidate, and that unsuccessful candidate fared quite poorly overall in the election. Ward systems tend to bring forward one-issue candidates unfortunately.
If this pandemic has taught me anything, it’s that time, energy, inclusiveness and resources are important. If council pushes this through, to put a ward system on the ballot, I feel they will be wasting a lot of time, energy and resources that could be better used. I also feel that it will kill any sense of inclusiveness and community that we have. I reread the blog from that meeting. I have been trying to pinpoint why three members of council seemed so focused on a ward system. Personally, I think it’s to help with election and re-election bids, which is a selfish and unfortunate way of thinking. Decisions need to be made for the good of our entire town.
I’m sure there will be more on this issue closer to the end of 2021 as we start to gear up for the 2022 election.
Speeding and crossing guards
The issue of speeding on Cherrylawn and Pickering Drive initially came up in June 2020. As well, crossing guard changes were made in July. Then these two issues came before council over and over again for many months afterwards, often week after week after week. Ultimately, Councillor McArthur made a motion to add back two crossing guards but the motion failed. Then, I believe there were some changes made to various areas around town in terms of safety zones and speed limits. The area on Simcoe Street from Victoria to Pacific is now 40 km/h.
Service Delivery Review
The Service Delivery Review was presented to council in July and then again in the fall. This document will probably replace the Deloitte Report to guide our town forward. It was a comprehensive review of our systems and operations in Amherstburg. In my opinion, you could not read nor understand the budget without also reading the Service Delivery Review. The two documents go hand in hand.
For the purpose of the presentation, they regrouped the 37 potential improvement recommendations into subcategories (from the report) :
- Governance and Strategy : This involves looking to the future and setting a strategic foundation. Amherstburg does not have a corporate strategic plan. The town is currently using the 2014 Deloitte report, which is a good guide, but it’s not a road map. The Official Plan is 10 years old and should be prioritized. Amherstburg is a bit behind with growth and this increases the burden on the existing tax base. As well, council has not adopted the reserve policy and Amherstburg has more assets than our peers, with many in poor condition. There needs to be a plan to take care of our assets as well as ensure our financial health long term.
- Setting Governance Foundation : This relationship must be based on an understanding of roles, responsibilities and boundaries. (This seems to be an issue for some on our council…..they seem not to understand the complexity and multi-faceted role of a Councillor….and council also cut their own training budget for 2021…..not too well thought-out in my opinion……)
- People and Culture : Human Resources provides training, which is good but needs a more consistent approach. As well, there is a lack of succession planning and we need sufficient talent to replace existing staff. The town is also under resourced in Full Time staff and we spend less on salaries than our peers. As well, we need an enhanced communications process. Our peers all seem to have a communications framework but we don’t.
- Service Delivery : There seems to be an inability to track information since there is no data base. For example, a resident called a Councillor about a problem but the town needs to be able to capture data and have an “inventory” on issues to help ensure service delivery gets met. As well, a review of the recreation fees should be done since they’ve declined in the past 10 years and Amherstburg is subsidizing more than its peers. Amherstburg should be looking at sharing resources and increasing the number of programs offered. The water and sewer rates were mentioned as being low in cost recovery.
- Processes and IT : It seems that many things are still paper based and “in person” services, which are not convenient.
In the risk analysis portion of their presentation, the representatives spoke of declining commercial growth in Amherstburg. It seems we should have a growth plan or it will increase the tax burden on the smaller tax base. We seem to have a lot of infrastructure, with much of it in poor condition. It was also said that Amherstburg should approve an Asset Management Plan, increase reserves, grow the municipality, look at water and sewer rate recovery, look at the staffing complement (since we are well below our peers in Full time staff) and invest in training. There was also a lot of discussion about Amherstburg’s lack of reserve funds compared to our peers.
This document is well worth the read for anybody who is really interested. I know I’ve provided the link before, but here it is again : https://pub-amherstburg.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=1966
It was good that some members of council referred back to this document during budget deliberations…..but others seemed to have a very short memory of it.
The Greenhouse Development
Anyone who feels we need Economic Development and to grow our tax base was probably mortified by what happened in July 2020. The development for a greenhouse was all set to go, site plan in place, development agreement in place….the developer had met ALL of the criteria set forth by the province and the municipality. And what did council do? Stopped it dead in its tracks and basically put the whole thing on hold. Council only gave the deal the first and second readings and denied the development its third reading and final reading/approval. Why? Because council had “questions”……here’s a news article that sums up what happened : https://www.iheartradio.ca/am800/news/amherstburg-shoots-down-site-plan-for-new-greenhouse-operation-1.12967408
A bit of back story on this issue….. I think it’s important to note that in a December 2019 meeting, in a recorded vote, Councillors Courtney, Prue and Simone voted against the rezoning for the greenhouse development. However, the Economic Development Committee had recommended that this project move forward……strange how the advice of some committees is given so much weight, yet here it didn’t seem to matter, not one bit. (And I believe that Councillors Prue, Simone and McArthur are our representatives on the Ec Dev Committee? hmmmmmm) As well, the development was also appealed to the LPAT by a resident. The development was successful at the LPAT level since it met all of the provincial and municipal laws and planning procedures. I think this is very important.
From what I have seen as a council watcher over the years, the deal should have been approved, as per the Planning Act, that very first night. But council wanted to delve into issues that weren’t in their purview. They had questions about the building code and labour law…..(not municipal areas of governance by a long shot)……I believe that council sent a very bad message to developers this past summer……Amherstburg needs development. Amherstburg needs the tax revenue. Council should be welcoming development with open arms…..the way this development was treated explains why we see areas around us getting development while we sit here waiting…..The Service Delivery Review was presented at that same meeting and talked about the importance of growth…..and yet, a viable development with everything in order and in compliance was made to wait three more weeks for their final approval from council……Ironically, it was the site plan that was on the agenda that night……and yet not one single question about the site plan…..
Ultimately, the development was once again before council again three weeks later at a special meeting to be able to get the third and final reading. A representative of the developer was there to answer council’s “questions”. In a nutshell, this was a very good development when it came before council on July 13th. It was still a very good development when it came before council AGAIN on July 27th…..The developer had met his end of the deal and council made him wait, unnecessarily for an extra 3 weeks to get his final approval. Do you know what changed between July 13th and July 27th? Nothing.
And for the record, the property is not zoned to grow marijuana and according to the presentation in July they will be growing tomatoes. There is also language in the agreement to protect the town in order to keep the skies dark.
The Budget
Well, this should be fresh in everyone’s minds since it just happened during the months of November and December. In November, council was presented with a proposed tax increase of 7.95%. At that time the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund, OCIF, had not been confirmed to municipalities, so Amherstburg had to budget as if we would not be getting that provincial funding. Last year Amherstburg received approximately $1.7 Million from the province. Council deliberated the budget for the entire 3 days this year. I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a council use the third day that is always set aside as an “if required” day. By the time they finished deliberating, the tax increase was to be 4.88%. Bear in mind, by the end of the three days of deliberations, council had approved the budget in principle for a 4.88% tax increase. All of council was in agreement, except Councillor Courtney.
Last year, council only increased our taxes by .56%, well below the rate of inflation. The pandemic hit and it really put the spotlight on our finances and how we are still behind other municipalities especially when it comes to savings in our reserves. The financial mess of 2014 isn’t that far behind us and it will take more than 6 years to get us back on track to where we should be. I think things were gradually getting back on track, but Amherstburg couldn’t afford the luxury of an almost 0% tax increase last year. It came back to haunt council again and again all year long.
Councillor McArthur wrote an excellent blog in August which explained the reserves and how Amherstburg fares in comparison with other surrounding municipalities. Here is the link for those who are interested : https://www.donaldmcarthur.com/amherstburg_s_reserves_a_work_in_progress
At the final mega-meeting spectacular in December that spanned 2 days and more than 9 hours, council whittled the tax increase down to 2.03%. In the short term, that makes me happy, who wants to pay more tax? In the long term, I think we’ll be having the same budget debate year after year after year…..council seems to look at the budget as just an annual event rather than something that spans more than one year.
I call the final meeting of December a mega spectacular show for a reason. Council had already approved in principle a tax increase of 4.88% after about 20 hours of deliberations. Councillor Courtney didn’t agree with most of what was decided during the deliberations. Even though I did not agree with him, I will give him credit, he stayed true to himself and his stance on the issue when the final budget was up for approval in December. But suddenly when the OCIF money MAY be back on the table, some members of council who had supported the budget in principle, wanted to throw a big chunk of it into the budget to bring the tax rate down, way down. The political games began. Councillor McArthur and Deputy Mayor Meloche seemed to want to put a small amount on the budget and the rest in reserves. Councillor Prue and Councillor Simone seemed to want to put a large amount on the budget and less in reserves. I’m really not sure what Councillor Renaud seemed to want. The nine hour final episode of Council 2020 turned into a show of twists and turns and fancy footwork. After yet after many more hours of debate, council brought the tax increase down to 2.03% (right around the current rate of inflation). The tax increase means about a $20 increase per year for every $100,000 in assessment.
An added bonus, after the original budget debate, was that council and administration found out they were receiving about $450,000 in grant money. Some of the money was eligible to apply to the budget and some of it was earmarked to cover costs incurred in 2020 due to the pandemic.
During the original budget deliberations in November, council agreed to three of the five recommended new positions, as per the Service Delivery Review. It was mentioned in the Service Delivery Review that the positions could be phased in over the next few years however, the top two positions recommended were the Town Solicitor and Manager of Finance. The position of Town Solicitor was hotly debated with Councillors Prue, Simone and Courtney not supporting the position in a recorded vote. However, the position for Manager of Finance was approved, in an unrecorded vote. Council, as a whole, seemed to recognize the importance of this position in order to be able to properly plan for our town’s financial stability and it’s financial future.The new position would also focus on the town’s asset management plan.
But the position of Heritage Planner, well…..that was a very different story……there was a delegation the night of the first budget debate from the Heritage Committee. They recommended the hiring for this position as a top priority. Councillor Prue supported that wholeheartedly. Councillor Courtney made a motion to strike this position from the budget and Councillor Renaud seconded it. Councillor Courtney felt that the position could be looked at next year and that it wasn’t of an urgent nature for 2021. (Personally, I tend to agree…..I think of all the positions that were recommended, this one could have waited…..please know though that I do like history and do have an affinity for historical buildings but I think with the pandemic and other more important matters in the budget, this position could have waited another year…..but I don’t get a vote LOL! Council does!.) Councillor Prue did speak passionately for the position and made some very valid points about what tourists come to see…..they come to see historical buildings, to see the history of the War of 1812, to see a town that has been carefully built and restored, to see our waterfront, to see the history of the Underground Railroad and to see the history of Amherstburg and how people lived. Deputy Mayor Meloche agreed that Amherstburg’s heritage was important and he supported the position. Councillor McArthur felt that this position could also help to finally secure a hotel in Amherstburg. (If there’s one thing I think everyone can agree on, I think it’s that Amherstburg needs a hotel! The downtown property has been rezoned for a hotel and stakes were in the ground just before the pandemic hit……) Ironically, listening to the debate for the position, the words “economic development” were thrown around multiple times by council as a means to support this position. I can’t help but wonder why Economic Development was not of importance in the summer of 2020 when the greenhouse development was before council with their finalized site plan and development agreement? That was and is HUGE economic development! Eventually, the motion to strike the Heritage Planner position from the budget went to a recorded vote…..the only ones to support the motion were Councillors Courtney and Councillor Renaud. Therefore, the motion failed and the position will be in the 2021 budget. Just an observation on my part…..the recommendation from the Heritage Committee held a lot of weight with council……and it seems that the recommendations from the Audit and Finance Committee do too……why did the recommendation from the Economic Development Committee about the greenhouse not matter? Funny how council seems to pick and choose which recommendations matter and which ones don’t. Does council only push for recommendations that they agree with?
However, for some really, really good news…….I was VERY happy to see that council earmarked some money to get some work done to start developing the Duffy’s property! That is great news! There is also some money earmarked for some other projects in 2021, which is good news too. We need our town to move forward and get some things accomplished. It takes money to do so. I am very much looking forward to seeing the Duffy’s project get started to make that beautiful property usable for all of us!
For those looking for a little more detail, here is a really well written article that explains some of the things that were budgeted for. https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/amherstburg-council-finalizes-budget-for-2021?fbclid=IwAR00bJ-2aUkMWLxVUOMrPxgdbnB1M_zzM7xim6jYoB2MJ8Gfhz6tXDG7Yko
I think that at least some on council realized that last year’s miniscule increase was a mistake. I think that planning our financial future requires a long term approach. I also feel that council’s lack of experience showed a lot this year. Other than the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, all members of council are new this term. I think that some on council are far too focused on their role of “representing the people” and forget about their roles of stewardship and their fiduciary responsibilities to the town as a whole. Unfortunately, council cut money out of the budget that was earmarked for training for them. I hope they don’t think that googling information counts as training LOL. Maybe they do? Yikes
Conclusion
The year 2020 will be a year that will go down in history. The pandemic threw a wrench in everyone’s lives and it’s still not over. Mayor DiCarlo stepped up to the plate and declared the state of emergency and council supported him. Council also created a mask bylaw this summer and for the most part tried to do their best in regards to the pandemic. It was noticeable that some on council took the pandemic and safety protocols a bit more seriously than others but they got us through this year.
It looks like I’ll be watching the meetings on line for a while into 2021. I am hoping that maybe by the fall I (and the rest of Amherstburg residents) will be able to attend meetings in person once again. Maybe with a live viewing audience, the meetings will become timely, efficient and productive once again? Maybe that will be my wish for 2021? Nah, I’ve got bigger things to wish for than that.
If you made it to the end of this blog, thank you. Whether you agreed with all of what I wrote, none of what I wrote or some of what I wrote, I appreciate my readers. I look forward to continuing to watch council into 2021! Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year, be safe and stay healthy!
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