Transparency? Not so fast!

For those of you who recall, the Integrity Commissioner presented his report to council at the June 27th council meeting. Here is a link to the full report for those who may not have seen it :

https://pub-amherstburg.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=8126

During that meeting, not one member of council asked anything about this section of the Integrity Commissioner’s report: 

“In addition to the two Files from the previous Reporting period which remained open after January 1st, 2020, a further six (6) Complaint Files were opened after January 1st , 2020. These Files concerned Confidentiality, Conflict of Interest, and Member Conduct. During the current Reporting period, six (6) Files were closed. Three Files resulted in a Letter of Admonition being sent to the Member; One File was resolved by the Informal Complaint Procedure; one File was dismissed because, on its face, it did not disclose a violation of the Code; and one File was dismissed in the public interest. The remaining two Files were closed early in January of 2022. Both resulted in a Letter of Caution being issued.” (page 11)

Which members of council received a letter of admonition? Which members of council received letters of caution? 

Interestingly, council was very interested in asking questions about the KPMG audit during the July meeting. Members of council were very quick to point out anything in the report that showed a procedure not being perfectly followed. Yet, when it came to their own behaviours and following of policies, not a peep to be heard. So I decided to ask about it. I feel that if any elected official is receiving a letter of admonition or a letter of caution, the public should be aware of who received such letters and why. Shouldn’t elected public officials be held accountable? Shouldn’t elected public officials be transparent? 

So, I filled out an MFIPPA (Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act) request at town hall and paid the $5 filing fee. I requested the following information :

“Copies of any letters of admonition and letters of caution issued to any current members of Amherstburg Town Council by the Integrity Commissioner. If you are unable to release the actual letters, then provide the names of members who received such letters and the reasons they were issued.” 

And then I waited. 

This week I received a letter from Town Hall signed by Valerie Critchley, CAO and Clerk. It reads in part : “ The search has shown that the records requested are not in the custody of the Town, and as such, are not available for release.”

In other words, the letters are solely in the possession of those who received them. The town doesn’t have a copy…..how convenient for those members of council that were warned or admonished by the Integrity Commissioner. And how disappointing for the members of the public who I feel should be fully aware of who received such letters and why. 

It’s election season. Would I want to vote for somebody seeking re-election that received a letter of admonition or a letter of caution from the Integrity Commissioner? Would you? The fact that these letters are unavailable to the public shows a serious lack of transparency and accountability for the standards of our elected officials. Some members of council sure like to point out administration’s every tiny error during public meetings, yet here we are….members of the current council received letters of admonition and letters of caution and the public will remain in the dark about who received them and why. That’s not right. That information should be public and in its entirety. How can we hold elected officials accountable when they’re allowed to simply point fingers at others but never at themselves? 

Monday July 25th Special town council meeting

This week’s blog was written by Lori Wightman. Thank you Lori for helping me out! (again!)

I anticipated this special council meeting to be interesting, full of discussion and productive in the way that it would produce things…I was disappointed in two out of three of those.

Councillor Courtney joined us from the firehall, everyone else was in chambers.

We began with the presentation from KPMG, the results of an audit requested by motion of council from December 13, 2021.The presentation was interesting – they looked at certain capital projects and operating budgets. The 5 capital projects looked at were The Hub(the old St. Bernards), Duffy’s, Bellevue, 4th Concession and Pacific Avenue main and the operating budget process was examined from 2019 and 2020 with a review of the quarterly variance processes. 

If you are interested in reading the entire report, you can find it here:

https://pub-amherstburg.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=8314

The findings by KPMG were that (1) the town had a lack of formalized internal controls with both capital projects and operating budgets and that they should consider leveraging existing frameworks to build controls that were more robust. And (2) the town had several instances where they were not adhering to policies and procedures – this could be from a lack of awareness of the policies and procedures due high staff turnover or lack of training. 

KPMG representatives then talked about the findings more specifically regarding each item they looked at. It seems that some of the internal controls – approvals by certain levels (CAO, directors) were sometimes overlooked, that some items did not have the requisite purchase orders attached prior to the action and that procurement policies were not always followed. 

There was nothing found that involved criminal wrongdoing.

So, it would appear that corners were cut and some policies were disregarded through a lack of awareness, or expediency. 

KPMG made a number of recommendations – some of which were already underway according to our new CAO – updating of policies, creating more robust policies and procedures and ongoing training of staff – including “cross-training” of staff to prevent “brain drain” which means multiple staff will be knowledgeable about multiple things so if someone is off or leaves the information isn’t lost with them. Smart move, I think.

The report is an interesting read and the recommendations all seem doable but again – there was no finding of any kind of criminal wrongdoing. 

Then the discussion began:

Deputy Mayor Meloche agreed with most of the recommendations but took exception to the statement that 

“KPMG is unsure if this increase was appropriate in consideration of the need for proper governance and oversight of the project costs by Council, balanced with the need for the Town to efficiently move the project forward. However, it appears this authorization level was properly approved by Council”.. 

He thinks the word appropriate was..well…inappropriate. 

Councillor Prue wanted to know why staff didn’t get the variance reports to council  in a timely manner and why haven’t we looked at conflict of interest regarding “friendships” before? (This was also one of the findings that sometimes projects were tendered to “friends”. Not, in and of itself a conflict of interest because “friendship” was not one of the considerations in conflicts – just pecuniary interests. Both of these questions were odd in that the report just stated that these things weren’t done and should be looked at. He was essentially asking staff (all new) why previous staff didn’t do things.)

Councillor Courtney asked about specific invoices on the Hub report and whether KPMG found any irregularities with “the smallest invoices”. KPMG didn’t review every single invoice but did a representative sample. Councillor Courtney then asked if better policies and controls are needed, why aren’t there templates we can use and why isn’t KPMG telling us HOW to do it. 

ASIDE: Here we are again with the can’t we just use other people’s work and can’t you (whoever the you is at any given time) just tell us what to do. No municipality is the same as any other – each has unique issues, unique challenges. Also, it’s not KPMG’s job to hold our hand and show us step by step what to do. KPMG gives recommendations, council decides what they would like to heed and directs administration to get the job done. .

KPMG then said internal controls are a journey not a destination. ( I LOVE this, it’s the exact perfect description – internal controls should be reviewed, changed, adjusted regularly – it’s an ongoing, fluid thing.) There are frameworks and best practices but KPMG being an external auditor is not in the position to give specifics. 

Councillor Courtney then asked hadn’t KPMG in all their audits ever found one that was spot on perfect that they could then say “use this” (sigh…I don’t think the councillor heard a word they said).

Councillor Courtney then asked, because there were naysayers what the cost was. The final cost of this audit has not yet been determined.

Councillor Prue suggested that the Audit and Finance committee be used to review contracts etc. to be sure policies and procedures are followed. The  CAO said council sets the mandates for committees of council. Deputy Mayor Meloche said policies and procedures are just paper and that it’s the staff that make it happen – if they choose not to follow or don’t know or are too overloaded the paper doesn’t mean anything (Which was a very good point)

Anyway, council received the report and asked the CAO to report back on the completion of these recommendations. 

7.1 New Policy – Disconnecting from Work

Deputy Mayor Meloche talked about how sometimes dedicated staff do work outside of work hours – ie, he has sometimes emailed staff very late in the evening and staff email him back. 

This is exactly what this law means to address – they are answering you BACK. Employers should NOT be emailing, calling etc staff on their time off – late at night, on their days off, during vacation. Work/life balance is important and time where you are fully disconnected from work is essential for that and your mental health. 

Councillor Prue said this is a provincial law and we are required to do it (AMEN!)

This was approved.

7.2 Vacation Policy

This was approved

8.1 Kings Navy Yard Park Extension – Phase 1 Shoreliine Improvement

So.it seems the town has the opportunity to (1) get the shoreline improvements done at the Duffy’s property in partnership with Amico since they are already doing much the same work on their property next door. Amico has agreed to essentially lock in the price and get started. The recommendation is to pre commit the funding and waive the Purchasing bylaw to execute this agreement now OR (2) the town can get the shoreline improvements done later through the RFP tendering system but with the precommitment of funding the same ($2 million dollars from reserves).

Seems pretty simple – get it done now and likely save time and money or get it done later  and maybe get the same price but follow all the procedures and policies already in place.

Councillor Prue asked, in light of the KPMG report we just heard, does administration still recommend that we proceed with the option to waive the purchasing bylaw. (Fair question – we just heard about how policies and procedures should be followed and paid money to get the recommendations).

The CAO explained that the request was coming to council to be approved and Ms.Baillargeon said it would save time and money for the town as we can’t open the property to the public but we can have contractors in to do some of the work in preparation. 

Councillor Prue wanted to know why couldn’t Amico just submit for the RFP, after all prices seem to be coming down  (I don’t know where he sees that happening? A correction in the market doesn’t translate to lower prices and timelines definitely are not decreasing.) Why did we have to grab this right now?

Ms. Baillargeon said that timelines and costs will definitely go up if we wait a year to send out an RFP etc. She said this gives us the opportunity to get work done in advance of the next phase and that, for example, Amico is working on drainage that we can tie into.

Deputy Mayor Meloche asked if the cost savings could be pinpointed and admin responded that it can’t be pinpointed without the RFP process. DM Meloche said then that we don’t know the savings. (Pretty sure it will cost less to have someone next door just extend the work they’re doing today then to have someone new come in a year from now to do the same work but start fresh – seems like common sense) 

Councillor Courtney talked about how we’ve seen robust plans for Duffy’s and that we’ve tried to accomplish something but we haven’t seen a business plan or itinerary.(I’m going to channel Sarah here – even when given a business plan – whatever that means or an itinerary or a LIBRO MASTER PLAN, you disregard it and move the actual decision-making down the line).

Here’s where it all went downhill. 

Council members began speaking up about “push it to the next council” and about how we have too many other things. About how council needs some instructions from higher levels and we need to know where money is coming from. “We just keep adding projects and spinning our wheels”. 

Is it just me or is this an ongoing refrain about putting off decisions that we’ve heard over and over again – not making a decision over the course of your four year term and then wringing your hands about how there is so much to decide at the end is the definition of futility. 

The CAO spoke about how they were building out a 5 year capital budget plan and how administration would like even a 10 year plan.

Councillor McArthur spoke about how it’s time to move forward, that the Duffy property is an eyesore and embarrassing. If we need to take reserves to get it going we should because otherwise all we are doing is kicking it down the road AGAIN. (Exactly Councillor EXACTLY!) He felt option 2 was a good choice and we could replace reserves.

Someone in the gallery asked why the money would come from the general reserves – that is procedurally wrong but Councillor McArthur asked the question for him and it was stated that was the only reserve that had enough in it. 

(Another of my pet peeves – four years of next to no tax increases, that don’t even match cost of living or inflation and four years of not adding anything substantial to our reserves and here is where we sit – too scared or too risk averse to do even one substantial project. Not even the will to just start a project that many have been complaining about for the entire four years of this council’s term)

A long discussion about when the RFP in Option 2 would expect to be out, when this work would be able to begin if Option 2 was used and how we shouldn’t rush it (RUSH IT?? It’s been sitting there, a fenced-in empty field on our waterfront for 4 years!)

And then, again, the words “push it to the next council” to have them look at carefully. (Prue)

Option 2, to put out the job to RFP was put to a recorded vote

Yes –  DiCarlo, McArthur

No – Courtney, Meloche, Simone, Prue, Renaud

So, Duffy’s will sit, as is, for at least another year. Despite the fact that there were two viable choices, the majority of council made none and we have another decision pushed off for the future.

8.2 Malden Park Shelter

Approved with a few questions about size and whether the washroom and canteen will stay (30X65 and they will). 

8.3 Skate Park – Contract Award

Councillor Prue was concerned that the second part of the recommendation where future phases of the Skate Park be awarded to The Canadian Ramp Company was inappropriate. Ms. Baillargeon pointed out that out of two tenders put out we received zero bids. The Canadian Ramp Company will not just give us their design to use ourselves and with no other bids it’s reasonable that they get the whole contract. 

Councillor Courtney was concerned that this third party inspected our ramps and now they deem them unusable. Ms. Baillargeon stated that these are ramps from years ago and are past their useful life.

This company will meet with user groups and the public to come up with elements and a design that they want that works within our budget. 

Then Councillor Courtney started talking about how would kids get to the skatepark because according to our bylaw they can’t skate on the sidewalk or on the road. (I honestly thought that I had slipped into another dimension or something. Are we really going to circle back to how the location is problematic?? So even the decisions that get made are then second guessed later. Sigh. Kids will get to the park the same way they got to the other park – there is a bike lane to Libro they can use. This won’t be the first time kids had to get themselves and their skateboard to the location they wanted to skate at.)

Councillor McArthur spoke of attending the park out on the east side of Windsor and how skateboarders and scooters and roller bladers etc all used it and that our kids deserved it. He inquired as to the timeline and Ms. Baillargeon said the design charette should be put together by the beginning of August. 

With that, the recommendation was approved. 

8.4 Libro Trail Tender

Deputy Mayor Meloche was concerned about the big difference between the low bid and the high bid and wanted to know if all the boxes were ticked off in the low bid. Ms. Baillargeon said they were and that everyone is so busy that the bids sometimes come in higher and that her estimate was only about $800 off of the low bid. 

Councillor Courtney was concerned that the price for mile marker signage was so high – Ms. Baillargeon pointed out that cost was for all the signage not just one mile marker

The recommendation was approved.

The rest of the meeting went quickly, reports received, consent correspondence received and then they moved into a special in-camera meeting and I made my escape, I mean, exit. 

Just an aside from me (Lori): I get it, no one wants to be on the hook for spending taxpayer money especially in a town where you can be ripped to shreds on social media for every decision but if you are in this position you cannot just listen to loud voices you have to think of the town as a whole, of our future, our children’s future. No tax increases, no reserve deposits don’t make for a stable or productive or successful future. Snowplow governing where you just push everything forward for lack of strength, vision or fortitude helps no one. We saw this during this term – very few substantial decisions made. It’s a shame, we could be in such a better position now. To paraphrase Councillor McArthur, four years of kicking it down the road is enough. 

And a huge thank you once again to Lori for this excellent write-up and summary! I am absolutely stunned and so very disappointed that council decided to do absolutely nothing with the Duffy’s property……but I guess it’s the theme of the past four years….lack of vision, lack of planning, lack of decision-making abilities…..Can the future of Amherstburg afford four more years of this?

And I promise that I will be back to blog the August meeting! So Lori, put your feet up and relax! And thank you!

In preparation for Monday July 25th Special town council meeting

There is a special meeting being held at 3:00 on Monday afternoon. And special it will be! There seems to be a bit of panic going on…..that council could become lame duck and nothing will be able to happen so there seems to be a big rush now…..I guess since not much has been done in the last 4 years now is the time to suddenly get it done….that council barely raised taxes at the beginning of their term, so now to get stuff done, they’re looking to draw from reserves……all in the final hour…..I guess this is the result of a lack of vision, a lack of planning and a lack of budgeting. Mind you, there’s some good stuff in the agenda, some great projects and some necessary changes. It’s just too bad that these things didn’t happen gradually during the past 4 years, rather than a big rush at the end. I bet I won’t hear anyone on council say “Does this have to be decided tonight?” on Monday afternoon. They just don’t have any more time left. 

The agenda is only 149 pages however, it is jam packed and one of the major reports is not included with the agenda as of yet. 

PRESENTATIONS 

KPMG Review – Karen Grogan, Tyler Reavell and Rachel Feeney, KPMG 

Council gets annual reviews of the town’s finances from KPMG but this item seems to be about the motion that council made last December, to have an audit done. All it says on the agenda is “presentation to follow” so I don’t know what the presentation will contain. I am guessing and anticipating that all is in order and that this time, energy and money was wasted on some ridiculous witch hunt to justify the dismissals of senior administration and other decisions council made but who knows? We shall see. Considering council gets quarterly reports and annual reports about our finances, this was likely a smoke and mirrors / political move. And it cost a lot of money. I can’t wait to listen to the presentation. 

***Editor’s note. At the time of publication of this blog, this report was not available. The report was made available later. For those who are interested, here is the link to the 141 page report :

https://pub-amherstburg.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=8314

I am still reading through the report. There are some interesting findings but no smoking gun that I’ve found as of yet…..****

New Policy – Disconnecting from Work

It seems that there is some new legislation to allow for employees to disconnect from work. Council has a draft policy in front of them so that they can put this in place for Town employees. From the report : “Approval of the policy will bring the Town into alignment with legislative requirements, will confirm the commitment of the Town to its employees’ overall health and well being, and will reinforce positive and proactive discussions that have been in place to bring this policy to its realization.”

Now if only council consistently treated town staff with respect during the meetings, we would have it all! 

Policy Amendments – Vaccination Policy

It looks like the vaccination policy will need some amendments. There seems to be some language changes regarding pandemics to make the policy a little more broad than just about COVID. 

Kings Navy Yard Park Extension – Phase 1 Shoreline Improvements

This is super interesting and super exciting!!! The good news is that FINALLY something is going to happen with the beautiful Duffy’s property. The bad news is that council will be drawing $2 Million from reserves to do it…….If this doesn’t put a huge spotlight on the importance of planning, vision and budgeting I don’t know what does. (Anybody else thinking about the Libro Master Expansion Plan that council didn’t adopt and put on a shelf somewhere? I know I am…..)

Anyway, I read through the report….There has been an environmental assessment done to the property which has slowed things down a bit. However, it’s time to act and council needs to chop chop. It seems that Amico has been doing a lot of work on the shoreline portion that belongs to them that abuts the Duffy’s property. 

Here is the link to the report for those who want a full understanding of this complex issue.

https://pub-amherstburg.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=8254

There are two options for council to consider. The first, is to enter into an agreement with Amico to get the necessary work done to the towns portion. Council would need to draw $2 Million from reserves to get this done. However, this would be a fixed price agreement, which means the price is the price. Since Amico is already there doing similar work on the adjacent property, this would offer some cost savings to the town. According to the report, here are the benefits to this agreement : 

“There are a number of benefits of entering into a fixed price agreement:

 – The Town would be able to clearly identify the costs in a volatile market right now for completing Phase 1 of the project and mitigate financial risk of material increases, labour cost increases and unexpected situations that add costs. 

– Engineering, oversight and project management would be the responsibility of the contractor including all Ministry approvals which would be flowing through the same consultant that has intimate knowledge and history of the Town site and Municipal Class EA saving on design consulting and engineering costs. 

– The Town would not be invoiced for this work until the project is substantially complete. This would improve cash flow and financing needs of a project of this size.

 – Timing to complete the project would be ensured based on the agreement and penalties put in place if timing isn’t met. If Council agrees to move forward with a sole source design build contract for this work the work could be completed only barring required ministry approvals within this calendar year. If the Council wishes to proceed with the procurement of standard Tender award process for this work, Administration can confidently say it will not be carried out until 2023 or later.”

OR

Option 2 is for council to tender out the project rather than have Amico get started immediately. Obviously, that will cause some delay and some risk of cost increases. From the report : 

“If Council decides to move forward with the normal Tender process and have the Town manage this project, additional resources are required to help with contract administration. Contract administration costs could run anywhere from $250,000 to $350,000 plus. The Town would contract this work out to a consulting firm thereby issuing an RFP to complete detailed design and construction drawings in addition to acquiring all necessary ministry and regulatory approvals and permits and finally send out a request for tenders and award a contract which will take us well into 2023.

Completing the project in this manner would ensure that the Town would get the best pricing available at the time of Tender however, could be more costly due to additional resources required to carry out the scope of work with a considerably longer timeline in a volatile market where prices are going up by the day. Although the Town would be able to obtain best pricing for the work in general there is risk that these total costs could result in costs exceeding the fixed price being offered by AMICO due to rising construction prices and the time required to prepare the necessary drawings and approvals. The proposal / tender process as well as Council funding approvals could add additional months to the overall project time. These delays will add additional financing cost to the project.”

So council will have to choose between Option 1, which is to have Amico do the work for a fixed price or Option 2 to tender out the project. Either way, council will be making a large withdrawal from reserves to get this necessary project done. It’s too bad that it has come to this. This project is important and needs to move forward. It’s a darn shame that it wasn’t planned for and budgeted for as it should have been. 

I am hopeful that the next council will realize the importance of having a vision with a short-term plan and a long-term plan for Amherstburg so that we aren’t drawing from reserves in the final hour to get things done. (Oh and hopefully approve the Libro Master Expansion Plan so that that project can get rolling too!!!!!)

Malden Park Shelter – Award of Tender

In the 2022 budget, council had approved some modifications to the Malden Park Shelter. This included demolition of the concession building and then designing a new structural support to replace the rotting columns and some other necessary repairs. However, once consultations began, the project seemed unfeasible and the costs seemed to be well above the amount budgeted. So, it seems that installing a brand new pavilion that includes proper drainage at the same location would be more fiscally responsible. The bonus is that this project also falls within the budgeted amounts. Here is the recommendation from administration :

It is recommended that:

1. The Malden Park Shelter RFP BE AWARDED to New World Park Solutions Inc. in an amount of $129,985.13 plus HST; and,

2. The Treasurer BE AUTHORIZED to execute a Purchase Order to New World Park Solutions Inc. for $129,985.13 plus HST, satisfactory in form to the Town Clerk, in technical content to the Director of Parks, Facilities, Recreation and Culture and in financial content to the Director of Corporate Services.

Skate Park – Contract Award

Council had directed administration several months ago to put out a RFP for the skate park which is now located at the Libro Centre. The RFP was issued. Nobody responded. So, administration issued the RFP again. And again, nobody responded!!!! (Oh my…..) So, it looks like administration reached out to a couple of companies so that this project could get started. One of the companies had been unable to respond in time to the RFP due to another large project they were undertaking. So long story short, there is a proposal on the table to get some design concepts started for the new skate park. Here is the recommendation from administration : 

It is recommended that: 

1. The Mayor and CAO BE AUTHORIZED to execute a design build Agreement with The Canadian Ramp Company inclusive of design tender drawings and partial construction of phase 1 to an upset limit of $240,000 plus HST, satisfactory in form to the Town Clerk, in technical content to the Director of Parks, Facilities, Recreation and Culture and in financial content to the Director of Corporate Services and further; 

2. Council APPROVE that future phases of the Skate Park be awarded to The Canadian Ramp Company should additional funding be identified; and, 

3. The Mayor and CAO be AUTHORIZED to sign all future agreements, change orders and contracts required to execute additional phases of the design build contract pending capital budget approval. 

Libro Trail Tender No. 2022- 031

Some time ago, when the Libro Master Expansion plan was presented, council decided to only adopt the construction of one football field and the trail system at the Libro Centre. (The rest of the plan got shelved….but I digress.) Anyway, administration moved forward with planning for the Libro trail system, applied for grants and issued RFPs. And the project tenders are coming in for more than the budgeted amount, which looks like the extra will have to come from reserves. Here is the recommendation : 

It is recommended that: 

1. Council APPROVE an over expenditure for the Libro Trail project in the amount of $170,000 funded from the Reserve Fund General New Capital in order to cover the cost of the project. 

2. The Mayor and CAO BE AUTHORIZED to sign a contract with the lowest compliant bidder 1752336 Ontario Limited for the Libro Trail Project in the amount of $543,552.60 satisfactory in form to the Town Clerk, in technical content to the Director of Parks, Facilities, Recreation and Culture and in financial content to the Director of Corporate Services.

And finally, after all of the discussion about spending money and getting some things done (finally!), council will go in-camera to discuss:

SPECIAL IN-CAMERA MEETING

That Council move into an In-Camera Meeting of Council pursuant to Section 239 of the Municipal Act, 2001, as amended for the following reasons:

Item A – Labour Relations and Employee Negotiations

• Section 239(2)(d) Labour relations and employee negotiations

This meeting starts at 3:00 on Monday…..I foresee it will last a while…..this could be council’s last chance for grandstanding and trying to look good before they go lame duck…..Well I guess lame duck probably won’t stop the grandstanding but it will stop the spending LOL!

Monday July 11th Regular town council meeting

The Monday night meeting blog was written by guest blogger Lori Wightman. Thank you Lori!

My first time back in actual town hall (I think) and it was like I had never left. 

When I first got there, early, there were only a couple of people there and a lot of empty seats but that changed when people interested in the delegation and the decision about adding a gymnasium to the new fire hall started to trickle in. Adults and kids, some with signs all filed in and filled every available seat and some standing area spots. I think there were even people out in the lobby.

The first thing I noticed was the increase in the  number of women in leadership positions – always good to see. 

All of council was in attendance and the minutes of the previous meeting were accepted with no corrections. 

The first (and only) delegation – Joe Thachen-Cary from the Amherstburg Indoor Sports Association (AISA) spoke in support of  the Proposed Fire Hall and Gymnasium plans for design and tender as laid out in the agenda under 12.1.

For a refresher or for those who don’t know what the recommendation is:

1. RECOMMENDATION: 

It is recommended that: 

1. The project proceed utilizing a Design-Bid-Build project delivery model with the following recommendations: 

2. The Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer or designates, BE AUTHORIZED to execute an agreement with the sole bidder Masri O Architects in the amount of $511,300 plus HST including all labour and materials to produce a full set of Design Construction Documents inclusive of project tendering for a new Fire Station at the Libro centre inclusive of $97,000 to include plans for a gymnasium and further; 

3. Council APPROVE an expenditure in the amount of $261,300, plus nonrefundable HST, which is required for the overage on the Fire Station costs in the amount of $164,300 and to allow for the inclusion of gymnasium design in the amount of $97,000, and DIRECT the Chief Financial Officer to report back to Council on the recommended funding source and further; 

4. The Chief Administrative Officer, BE AUTHORIZED to sign or take any such actions required to execute the preparation of Design Construction Documents suitable for tender for the implementation of the new Fire Station and Gymnasium, satisfactory in legal form to the Clerk, in technical content to the Fire Chief and the Director of Parks Facilities, Recreation and Culture and in financial content to the Director of Corporate Services and further; and, 

5. The final Design/Tender documents BE BROUGHT BACK to Council for approval to then select a general contractor for the construction of the new facility through a comprehensive tendering process.

Mr. Thachen-Cary spoke very succinctly and with quite a bit of factual knowledge about the need for a public gym in Amherstburg. His association has over 300 players – some who play daily, some who play 2-4 times a week and some who play weekly – all playing a wide variety of sports including volleyball, basketball, pickleball etc. and from all different age groups. These players pay lots of user fees and currently all those fee payments are going to other municipalities because Amherstburg doesn’t have gym facilities. He pointed out that league volleyball players alone number at least 1200 in the county.

He said they are forced to go to other municipalities and that those municipalities get those user fees. He said if Amherstburg had the facilities not only would they be getting user fees but users would reduce their carbon footprint, but they’d  save gas money leaving them more discretionary spending for local businesses in and around the town. It would enhance sport tourism in town, and encourage the development of our hotel.

The user fees generated is in the area of $170,000 – 200,000 a year which is more than enough to recoup the cost of adding the gym to the plans. In addition, AISA would also be instrumental in bringing advertisers to town. He felt that the consulting fees shouldn’t be a deal breaker. 

Councillor Renaud asked if Admin had reviewed these figures and if they were realistic. Ms. Baillargeon from Parks and Rec said that the programming from AISA would be enough to produce these figures steadily. 

Deputy Mayor Meloche asked if we couldn’t just enter into an agreement with the new school to use their gym. Ms. Baillargeon said it has been discussed but that the time of use from the school would be limited, it wouldn’t be full time, daily or when it was needed necessarily. 

Deputy Mayor Meloche then asked how much money was on the table right now for Purdy and Centennial Parks and how much “you” are intending on spending there.

ASIDE : I don’t like it when council members use this wording. Administration is not intending to do anything, council makes those decisions. Using this wording is misleading to the average person watching meetings and pushes the belief that admin is steering the boat and to blame for spending. 

Ms. Baillargeon stated that it was up to council but ball park is about $4 million for each park depending on what amenities are included where. The Deputy Mayor then talked about how it would be $10 million to bare bones both parks and wondered how much we had precommitted. Councillor McArthur stepped in to say all recreational wants and needs are multimillion ones and that $97,000 to add a gym to the plans is just a design. What savings were there by getting in on the ground floor with plans now.

Ms. Baillargeon said it was an opportunity – that if you don’t plan ahead you lose out on an opportunity. You need a strategy to get things in your plan and the design is a place to start.

ASIDE: Not to sound too much like Sarah but had you all adopted the Libro Master Plan you’d have a clear pathway forward and know next steps and what is needed now, tomorrow, next year and next decade. But you didn’t and now you want to short these plans as well. You don’t have to do anything with them – but having them gives you a path forward and saves the cost if you then choose to do it in the future. 

Councillor Courtney then spoke and said he had “lots of questions”. 

Listening to “Joe’s” plan – which Councillor Courtney liked – he wondered if  the cost recovery for maintenance etc. was breakeven. Admin and Mr. Thachen-Cary said it was realistic. Ms. Baillargeon said that looking at the programming and its users it was viable. 

ASIDE: Another thingI find offputting is this habit of some councillor’s when they refer to delegates or admin so informally by their first names. It flies in the face of the formality of council and, if I’m honest, seems a little disrespectful. This isn’t your backyard bonfire party – it’s council chambers.

Councillor Courtney thought the cost of the plans at $500,000 was shocking and wondered what the cost savings would be if we did the drawings now vs. later. Fire Chief Montone replied that the cost saving would likely be about 75% if we did the plans now 

ASIDE: Which makes sense – now it would be an add on to the plans already being done, later it would be entirely new plans done from scratch. 

Councillor Courtney then asked why we could just use the school gyms and appease everyone. (This question was already asked and answered but alas….) The delegate responded that coaches in school already fight for gym time and that the school usage would always get priority over public usage. He reiterated that the times the gym would be available for the public would be limited to outside school hours and if Amherstburg were to complete this fire hall gymnasium it’s likely that schools would be asking to use it occasionally to alleviate their congestion. 

Councillor Courtney then wondered if we started a league will we take kids from other municipalities (and if we did? Our kids have been going to other towns all along, why is the reverse even an issue?) Mr. Thachen-Cary said we would not be cannibalising, we are bringing our kids back home. (What a great statement!). He said that we’d be able to have provincial tournaments, house leagues. He said that there are lots of groups that use school gyms and historical users get preference and that the pandemic has shown us that user agreements can be nullified at any time. 

Councillor Renaud asked what amount of participants would come back to Amherstburg – the answer was 1700 or so and that we would know better once concrete plans were in place. 

Deputy Mayor Meloche spoke about somewhat specifics in that we’ve committed $5 million debt to water, Heidi needs $10 million for parks, Bruce wants $3 million for a fire hall (double whammy there – first names and putting the expenditures on admin) and $2 million to a gym. Can the town handle this debt? Administration said this is just for the plans and that council would be in no way committing funds to building. The Deputy Mayor then asked if we commit to the $15 million, what is the debt? Administration said that if council committed to it and put it through debt it would be about $500,000/year.

Councillor Prue asked if the gym would be built in conjunction with the fire hall and when would that happen? Chief Montone responded that it was not determined yet but first this design spending would be approved, then the design itself, the tender and then the awarding of the tender. But he hopes shovels in the ground should happen in 2023 or 2024.

Councillor Prue said that we would need to find money for this and was concerned about what other recreational programs would be pushed back. Ms. Baillargeon said that the design needs to be approved and then council will approve the building and other recreational items. Councillor Prue then said when people ask him again, “When am I getting a pool” the answer will likely be “looks like never”

ASIDE:Council has had 4 entire budgets to work towards getting a pool and no one, including Councillor Prue, has ever put forward any kind of motion, plan, wish, recommendation, idea or anything to get one. Bringing it up now seems a case of too little too late or maybe a bit of election posturing. 

Mayor DiCarlo asked how much of the $10 million earmarked for parks (there isn’t a real figure earmarked but…) will go toward indoor sports. Ms. Baillargeon said there are no indoor sports plans for Purdie or Centennial parks. 

Councillor Courtney brought up again how shocked he was at the $500,000 price tag for the plans, he wondered if we weren’t just reinventing the wheel, couldn’t we use plans from the City of Windsor since they just built 4 new halls. Chief Montone then explained that the plans in question have been significantly decreased from their original price and that the City of Windsor has engineers, project planners, structural engineers etc in house. We don’t have that so we have to pay for those jobs to be done once the architectural designs are done. We did use references from other municipalities (he mentioned Springwater Township who did almost exactly the same plan that what we want.) 

Councillor Courtney wanted to know why we couldn’t just use Springwater’s plans. Ms. Baillargeon said we have to look at this unique to our build – streets, traffic, drainage, topography etc. 

Then Councillor Courtney said we have all these plans that we haven’t really done. He spoke about a facility needs study and that town hall wasn’t AODA compliant. He said we “are free-wheeling all over the place”. (And yet, when you had the chance to adopt a plan for the LIbro, you chose not to….weird)

The motion went to a recorded vote…but then people kept debating….

Deputy Mayor Meloche wanted to put this forward for the 2023 budget since the $97,000 wasn’t budgeted for. Councillor McArthur pointed out that council hadn’t budgeted enough for just the fire station. Councillor Prue wanted to know when everything was coming back to council for approval. Admin said before council becomes lame duck. The Mayor pointed out that we are working with a 3rd party so we can’t control them and can’t guarantee timelines. Chief Montone said the 3rd party was extremely aware of the timeline so it shouldn’t be a problem. Councillor Prue said we can’t stop the process once it’s begun (I may be wrong but this is just for design plans – if council wanted they could get the plans and shove ‘em in a box somewhere, there is no commitment to going forward)

Finally, the vote…

Support – McArthur, Meloche, Prue, Renaud, Simone, DiCarlo

Against – Courtney

With that, the delegate and all the supporters left and we moved on in the agenda.

8.1  IT Data Centre Award of Tender

This was approved with no real discussion

9. No reports from Parks & Rec

10.1 Amherstburg Water Treatment Plant Upgrades

Councillor Prue had some questions about whether it said the figures were in the 2022 budget and if it was an error. It wasn’t. He asked if there was a positive variance. Admin said there was. Councillor Prue was concerned we were taking more money out of reserves, water rates etc that we needed. Administration clarified that if we needed less, we would take less from reserves. There was a long discussion to clarify for Councillor Prue (should have been a phone call) that if the actual cost is less then we don’t need to take as much from reserves.

And the recommendation was approved. 

10.2 Pike Road Improvements 

This was approved with no real discussion. Drainage Board minutes approved.

Unfinished Business

Councillor Courtney said he would bring up something about the ACS building under New Business.

Councillor Prue asked about the First Nations Flag – will we have the flag by Sept 30 for Truth and Reconciliation Day. Administration said they were working with an Indigenous group to see what THEY wanted. Councillor Prue asked again if it would be done by Sept 30. Administration said that it will likely be but it depends on what the group would like. 

Councillor Prue asked about the Kingsbridge parkland conveyance, outstanding for 2 years. $66,000 seems low compared to what lots are going for. Administration noted that it is the amount put into the agreement and that it went to the Parks committee. 

Councillor Courtney wanted to know about his audit request and the one for year end. Admin said the councillor requested one will come up at the special meeting on July 25 and that the year-end one will be at the August 8 meeting. 

Councillor Prue asked if council can get a copy of the Deloitte report with all their recommendations to see where council is at in regards to them. (shouldn’t council already have access to that report?)

And with that we moved on to New Business (almost done, almost done)

Councillor Courtney asked about the silent auction at the old ACS building. He wondered what is going on with that and what are we getting rid of? Administration said it was an auction of miscellaneous items that the town is not in need of any longer. The ACS building is being used for ease of parking. Councillor Courtney reiterated that the kitchen was not being auctioned. It is not. 

Motion from Councillor Courtney, seconded by Councillor Prue to bring results of the Jack Purdie and Centennial Park survey to council. Councillor Courtney said there were a lot of people who haven’t seen the results and are used to seeing them in agenda form and that it was time to make a decision on these two parks. (Seems odd that a decision couldn’t have already been made and that it seems now to be somewhat dependent on a survey completed by a few hundred people).

Councillor Simone asked for a fulsome report for the Aug. 8 meeting and Administration said there will be a report with recommendations by that time. 

Councillor Renaud said we need to make a decision on direction. 

All voted in favour. 

Deputy Mayor Meloche spoke about the Co-An Park Steam Engine parade that needed police assistance which is somewhat tricky because of the responsibility lying between both municipalities – Amherstburg and Essex. Mayor DiCarlo said it was already taken care of. 

Councillor McArthur brought up Duffy’s. He said last time it was discussed we were waiting for approvals and that he had spoken to Chris Lewis, our local MP, who said to send him some info and he would look into it to see if he could expedite anything. Councillor McArthur suggested we also reach out to our new MPP Anthony Leardi as well so they can both keep an eye out for government funding and such.

All the bylaws were approved and at 7:40 we were done!!

Thank goodness, I was worried that this would be one of those marathon meetings and I would question my sanity in saying that I would guest blog this meeting.

I’m back now! Thanks again to Lori Wightman for covering this meeting! I really appreciate that someone is willing to guest blog when I am unable to and can provide their insight and perspective to the sometimes very odd happenings during town council meetings. I may need to take another night off again in the future? LOL!!!

In preparation for Monday July 11th Regular town council meeting

Well the good news is that the agenda is only 251 pages this week! The bad news is that council will be spending big bucks Monday night! (Drains, the water treatment plant, that type of thing…..nothing sexy there…..Here are the highlights in the agenda (it’s a pretty dry one….) And a revised agenda was issued on Friday…..

Delegation re. Proposed Fire Hall and Gymnasium – Joe Thachen-Cary, Amherstburg Indoor Sports Association (AISA) (revised agenda)

This delegation was added onto the revised agenda. It seems they will be speaking to an item further down on the agenda, the South Fire Station – Award of Request for Proposal – Design, Construction documents and Tender Phase. According to the delegation form, the Amherstburg Indoor Sports Association Inc. wholeheartedly supports Director Baillargeon’s proposal for building a gymnasium for community use as well as use of our member sports groups at the Libro Centre. 

(Just a side note, but after a ton of public consultation, so many user groups wholeheartedly supported the Libro Centre Master Expansion Plan, yet council only approved a very small portion of it and threw the rest of the plan into a box and put it away on a shelf……I wonder if council learned from that mistake? Or did they learn too late?)

IT Data Centre – Award of Tender

Well it looks like council had approved some IT upgrades during budget deliberations. So, a tender was issued and the prices are in. According to the report it seems that the current computer hardware is no longer covered by a support agreement and that parts are now at the end of life, which is making replacement parts much harder to come by. The price came in at $1,831 over the budgeted amount of $150,000. It’s recommended to take the small overage from the IT reserve. 

Here is the recommendation : 

It is recommended that:

1. The IT Data Centre Tender BE AWARDED to Attache Group Inc. in an amount of $149,205 plus HST; and, 

2. The Treasurer BE AUTHORIZED to execute a Purchase Order to Attache Group Inc. for $149,205 plus HST, and

3. Council APPROVE the over-expenditure amount of $1,831 be funded from the IT Reserve.

Oh, and by the way, I found a typo in the report. (gasp! Because nobody ever makes typos right?…..) Wonder if anybody else will find it? Or if they will point it out publicly? 

Amherstburg Water Treatment Plant (AWTP) – Electrical Upgrades and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Installation – Tender Results 

Well it looks like some serious work is required at our water treatment plant. A request for tender was issued and 3 bids were given. But, the risk analysis of the report was VERY interesting : 

“This tender includes SCADA for the water treatment plant. The installation will alleviate pressures by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) to update our plant for automation, access to historical data and reporting. We are currently the only water treatment plant in Ontario without SCADA. This automation will provide up to the minute data for the treatment and storage processes allowing for accurate and safe operations. It also improves the ability to treat, relay and report plant functions. Not moving forward with this project would subject the Town to future scrutiny from the MECP and the potential that we be ordered to do so regardless.

This project also includes electrical upgrades to the exterior transformer and large-scale electrical replacements inside the building. The AWTP is 50 years old and many of these components have exceeded their useful life and are susceptible to failure. These replacements will help ensure the continued safe operation of the plant and production of safe drinking water. If the additional contingency value is not approved there is a good chance Administration will be required to come back to council to approve additional costs if they are incurred, potentially delaying the project.” (Just for transparency, since the words are in quotations marks, there was a small typo in this section but I fixed it….hope nobody points that out publicly…..just sayin’)

So, we are the only water treatment plant in the province without SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition). Is this what happens when council is too fixated on close to 0% tax increases? We fall behind? We aren’t up to speed with technology at our water treatment plant now? 

I believe that water issues are the only item for which a member of council can be held personally liable for their decisions. So I’m guessing this will pass, likely after much moaning and groaning. 

Here are the recommendations : 

It is recommended that: 

1. The Tender for Amherstburg Water Treatment Plant – Electrical Upgrades and SCADA Installation BE AWARDED to Selectra Inc. for an amount not to exceed $1,785,090.75 plus HST and the Mayor and Clerk BE AUTHORIZED to execute an agreement with Selectra Inc. for the Amherstburg Water Treatment Plant – Electrical Upgrades and SCADA Installation; 

2. That a $178,500 contingency allowance BE APPROVED for inclusion in the contract with Selectra Inc. 

Pike Road Drain Improvements and Auxiliary Outlet

Well it looks like there are some much needed drain improvements on Pike Road. (a.k.a. Simcoe Street or the Pike….depends how long you’ve lived here LOL). In this case, should council decide not to move forward with the necessary repairs, the municipality could be held liable for flooding issues or other problems. This will be another one that council will pretty much need to approve…..it just remains to be seen how much hemming and hawing we will have to endure. Drainage reports are not the most exciting reports to read……here are the recommendations : 

It is recommended that: 

1. The Drainage Board Meeting Minutes of May 17, 2022, BE RECEIVED; 

2. By-law 2022-031 being a by-law to provide for the Pike Road Drain Improvements and Auxiliary Outlet be taken as having been read a 3rd and Final time and finally passed and the Mayor and Clerk BE AUTHORIZED to sign same; 

3. The Director of Corporate Services/Chief Financial Officer BE DIRECTED to increase the Drainage Line of Credit from $2,000,000 to $4,000,000 to finance the Pike Road Drain Improvements and Auxiliary Outlet project, with costs to be recovered according to the assessment schedule provided under the engineering report in late 2023 following project completion; and, 

4. An operating expenditure not to exceed $505,345 including net HST BE APPROVED, to be funded by a combination of an allocation from the 2021 surplus and a commitment for the balance from the 2023 Budget.

South Fire Station – Award of Request for Proposal – Design, Construction documents and Tender Phase

In August 2021, council approved a two-station consolidation option for our Fire Services. This includes a new fire station to be located at the Libro Centre. It seems that an indoor soccer group approached the fire department and town administration about building a gymnasium and attaching it to the new fire hall. It looks like a pretty good concept overall. However, council must start planning and spending towards building a new fire station. 

I found this very interesting from the risk analysis portion of the report : 

“There are many risk considerations for Council to be aware of as this decision will affect the future completion of outstanding recommendations contained in the Fire Master Plan and The Libro centre Secondary Plan. Most importantly, it should be noted that there is a further cascading impact to several other corporate decisions that are uncertain and outlined in several strategic documents already approved by Council or are under consideration currently. They include the Asset Management Plan, Libro Secondary Plan, accessibility legislation compliance considerations, Emergency Response Plan, the pending Facility Needs & Condition Assessment of all Town facilities, and the future financial planning strategy for the Town. Balancing all of these competing priorities is a challenge for Council, however, a decision on the project as presented in this report is paramount, for other programs to move forward.

Approving the project as outlined in this report will help administration solidify some major pieces of infrastructure in a location that makes fiscal sense both operationally and from a response risk-gap perspective as outlined in the Fire Master Plan with the ultimate consideration of “what is best for the residents we serve”.”

Considering the Libro Expansion Master Plan still sits in limbo on a shelf or in a box somewhere, since council did not approve it…..and decided instead to approve a very tiny portion of it…..the future for the Libro property is unclear…..there is no council approved plan…..so this will create much instability when it comes to having to plan for this necessary development. This should be interesting to watch. Anyway, here are the recommendations : 

It is recommended that:

1. The project proceed utilizing a Design-Bid-Build project delivery model with the following recommendations: 

2. The Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer or designates, BE AUTHORIZED to execute an agreement with the sole bidder Masri O Architects in the amount of $511,300 plus HST including all labour and materials to produce a full set of Design Construction Documents inclusive of project tendering for a new Fire Station at the Libro centre inclusive of $97,000 to include plans for a gymnasium and further; 

3. Council APPROVE an expenditure in the amount of $261,300, plus nonrefundable HST, which is required for the overage on the Fire Station costs in the amount of $164,300 and to allow for the inclusion of gymnasium design in the amount of $97,000, and DIRECT the Chief Financial Officer to report back to Council on the recommended funding source and further;

4. The Chief Administrative Officer, BE AUTHORIZED to sign or take any such actions required to execute the preparation of Design Construction Documents suitable for tender for the implementation of the new Fire Station and Gymnasium, satisfactory in legal form to the Clerk, in technical content to the Fire Chief and the Director of Parks Facilities, Recreation and Culture and in financial content to the Director of Corporate Services and further; and, 

5. The final Design/Tender documents BE BROUGHT BACK to Council for approval to then select a general contractor for the construction of the new facility through a comprehensive tendering process.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Council can ask any questions about unfinished business items. 

NEW BUSINESS

And new business is the jackpot. Who knows what may be discussed? Random emails? Random phone calls? Random UFO sightings? 

And with that folks, I am off to enjoy Open Air Weekends in Amherstburg! We are supposed to have a beautiful weekend and I plan on enjoying it in our spectacular town!