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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-09-28, Page 7Wednesday, September 28, 2016 • Huron Expositor 7 Ombudsman cautions Rec. Board to better adhere to Municipal Act Darryl Coote Postmedia Network The Ontario Ombudsman has cautioned the Goderich Recreation Board of Man- agement to better adhere to provincial open meeting procedures and rules con- cerning the creation of com- mittees to be more transpar- ent, although it acted in good faith. Two town councillors who sat on the now -disbanded Agricultural Park Ad Hoc Committee committee, which advised the town's Recreation Board of Man- agement about revitalizing the park, said any transgres- sions were unintentional. But the woman who filed the complaint with the Ombudsman said if the pub- lic had been more informed and involved, things might have gone differently -- especially when it comes to the demolition of barns on the property used by the Goderich Trotting Associa- tion (GTA). The Ontario Ombudsman, Paul Dub& published his findings Sept. 14 after a three-month investigation into the complaint that the ad hoc committee did not comply with the Ontario Municipal Act concerning open meeting procedures. Formed in the summer of 2013, the ad hoc committee was supposed to be limited to 12 members, two of whom were council members with the remaining being volunteers. It was also required to have one municipal staff member. According to the report, it was not limited to 12 mem- bers and did not have a municipal staff member. Council dissolved the committee on May 24, 2016, stating it had fulfilled its mandate. The investigation report published Wednesday states that while the ad hoc com- mittee and the recreation board had "operated in good faith," both were under the "mistaken impression" from town staff that they did not have to follow the provincial Municipal Act and could hold closed meetings. "The Recitation Board of Management should turn its mind to the open meeting rules and the definition of a committee when creating bodies like the ad hoc com- mittee to ensure that the requirements of the Munici- pal Act are met," Dube said in his report. The ombudsman, an inde- pendent investigator into government complaints, then made four recommen- dations to council. Those recommendations to Goderich council are: Goderich should formally recognize the Recreation Board of Management as a local board subject to open - meeting requirements under the Municipal Act. The Recreation Board of Management should adopt a procedure by-law governing the calling, place, order and procedures for its meetings. All members of the Recrea- tion Board of Management should be vigilant in adhering to their responsibilities to ensure the board complies with the Municipal act and its applicable procedure by-law. The Recreation Board of Management should ensure that it and its committees adhere to the open -meeting requirements of the Munici- pal Act, especially with respect to public notice of its meetings. According to its website, the ombudsman has no power to enforce any recom- mendations he makes but most are implemented by the offending governments. Councillor Trevor Bazinet, one of two councillors who were on the ad hoc commit- tee and who still sits on the recreation board, told The Signal Star that any trans- gression committed by the ad hoc committee was not done purposefully. ea ort uronex ' ositor.co "I don't think anyone who sat on the committee had any intent at all to not be open or transparent with the public," he said. With the ad hoc committee dissolved a steering commit- tee has been formed to spear- head the multi -million -dollar plan to revitalize the aging Agricultural Park, and its has leamed from its predecessor's mistakes, he said. "We're moving in the right direction and we're doing things properly as per our ombudsman report. There was nothing done with any ill inten- tions whatsoever;' he said. People make mistakes, he continued. "[You] learn from your mis- takes and you move forward. Everybody makes mistakes and we thought we were doing what we were supposed to be doing," he said. Councillor Myles Murdock, the other councillor who was on the ad hoc committee and who also sits on the recreation board, said he didn't see the report as a criticism but a learning opportunity. "Things could be tight- ened up in terms of govern- ance and the way you run things. And that's really all I took from it," he said. "I cer- tainly didn't take it as a criti- cism as to how we were operating:' He said that the ad hoc committee should have made sure the public was aware of when the meetings were being held and that anyone could attend. The meetings, the investi- gative report says, were announced to members of both bodies through emails and members of the public only knew of the meetings if they had asked to be notified of them. The ad hoc committee was not trying to hide anything from the public, Murdock said. "It's simply a matter that we're trying to do the best job possible and sometimes we're pretty amateurish about the way we run things, instead of being more pro- fessional like the staff com- mittees are in town hall," he said. Bazinet said going forward the steering committee will make sure a member of staff is in attendance. "We had our first steering committee and we had three staff members there. And it was open to the public and no one from the public attended ... and that would have been the exact same thing with the ad hoc com- mittee," he said. However, for Michelle Gaynor, who filed the com- plaint with the ombudsman, disagrees. "If those meetings had not happened, it wouldn't have gone this far," she said. "... There's no way it could've happened." In early September barns that housed the Goderich Trotting Association (GTA)'s horses in the Agricultural Park were torn down as part of the revitalization plan, and if the report was released earlier, it might have prevented the barns from being demolished, she said. • ti our Tout Sunday October 2, 1 PM to 4 PM Apple Cider • Wagon Rides • Stewardship Information Display of Stream Creatures and Local Reptiles @ the Wawanosh Nature Centre 38854 Nature Centre Rd., North Huron 519-335-3557 or www.mvca.on.ca FREE ADMISSION!War �;;' Maitland CONSERVATION "[I'm] angry -- Very angry because it's too late for the horses and our family because the barns are gone," she told The Signal Star on the phone the day after the report was published. She said if the public had known about the meetings, there would have been push back to keep the barns. "If the community said, 'No, you're time is up. You've been there for a number of years. It's an eyesore.' If it was done fairly, so be it. But it wasn't. And that's what makes me mad," she said. She continued that the report from the ombudsman is too little too late and that the two council members should have known better. "They should be pun- ished," she said. "Especially the councilmembers who were on that board. Volun- teers can't possibly know the rules, they are volun- teering their time. Council members know the difference!' She is examining her legal options and may follow with a civil suit against the town, she said. "There should be some repercussions," she said. Help For Today. Hope For Tomorrow. Alzheimer Society Interested in Selling your Home, Call Century 21 Home Realty Inc. 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