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Renfrew – Conflict between Renfrew council’s two senior members of council and five newly-elected councillors was on full public display again last week when Reeve Peter Emon’s motion calling for the removal of Councillor Clint McWhirter from all committee assignments was tabled for debate.

The motion was defeated at the May 14 meeting by a 4-2 vote and the two sides continued a pattern with Reeve Emon and Mayor Tom Sidney consistently voting together on issues and the five councillors forming a voting block in opposition.

Reeve Emon’s motion called into question Coun. McWhirter’s “desire or intent to ignore the sound advice of staff” as the reason for his removal from committees. In a recorded vote Mayor Sidney supported it while four of the five new councillors (Jason Legris, Kyle Cybulski, John McDonald and Andrew Dick) voted against.

The divisive trend began after a third party review of the Ma-te-Way expansion project was released on March 21. Among the findings, the authors were critical of all members of the previous council for their collective lack of oversight and the failure of all to protect taxpayers’ money.

That lack of oversight contributed to out of control and unregulated spending that left Renfrew taxpayers on the hook for a $17 million debt for a project that went from a budget of $18.9 million to somewhere between $35 to $36 million. That debt will be paid over a 30-year period including an added cost of $15 million in interest payments.

Although Reeve Emon issued a public apology relating to his role in the Ma-te-Way project, council reconvened for a meeting on March 26 and the five councillors voted to remove both he and Mayor Sidney from all committee assignments. They also passed a motion requesting the mayor resign, and for the second time in less than two months, he refused.

During a January 30 council meeting, a majority of council passed a Vote of Non-Confidence in Mayor Sidney’s ability to lead council. The motion also demanded he resign immediately. A recorded vote was held and four of the five councillors voted in favour, while Councillor Cybulski joined Reeve Emon and Mayor Sidney voting against.

Prior to voting against the Non-Confidence motion, Reeve Emon foreshadowed the danger of unintended consequences if his fellow councillors voted in favour of the motion demanding the mayor’s resignation.

He cautioned all members against taking sanctions against an elected councillor because without a written policy in place, such measures could be abused.

He said a policy would provide the criteria for disciplinary action and would outline the process of how and when it can be used. Such a policy needs to clearly define when disciplinary action is warranted, and what level of sanctions can be administered against a sitting member.

He argued that without a policy, any councillor can demand disciplinary action at any time for any reason. For example, he said if one member is upset at a fellow member for personal reasons, that member only needs to convince three councillors to vote alongside and disciplinary action can be taken.

He said all councillors must be treated equally. Without a written policy, there is no safeguard in place to assure all members are treated equally and if any form of disciplinary action is taken, it must be based on the concept of fairness and equality for all.   

Previous Motion Demands Equal Treatment

One month after being stripped of all committee assignments, Reeve Emon introduced a motion at the April 26 meeting that sought the support of council to remove Coun. McDonald from all committee assignments.

He said when Coun. McDonald introduced a motion to remove Reeve Emon from all committees at the March 26 meeting, he accused the councillor of “misleading council and it reflects poorly on all of council and the corporation.”

Reading from a prepared statement, the reeve accused the councillor of providing false or inaccurate information that questioned the reeve’s integrity. That was in addition to Coun. McDonald’s statement that Reeve Emon exhibited poor judgement as chair of the HR committee and showed poor leadership in terms of protecting taxpayer’s money as one of three members of the Ma-te-Way Ad-hoc committee.

Reeve Emon read aloud some of Coun. McDonald’s statements that included an accusation the reeve threatened the financial stability of the town when he was the chair of the HR committee. He claimed that as chair, Reeve Emon’s role in the wrongful termination of former Fire Chief Guy Longtin resulted in a lawsuit against the town in the amount of $103 million as part of his wrongful dismissal claim.

Coun. McDonald said Reeve Emon failed to reign in a “renegade former director” who went on to enjoy two-year’s salary as part of his retirement package when he resigned from the town. He also said the reeve’s actions left taxpayer’s on the hook for the former director’s financial settlement with the town.

Reeve Emon addressed all the accusations levelled against him by Coun. McDonald and provided a summary for each accusation listing the details of each event citing what he described as inaccuracies made by Coun. McDonald.

He said his reputation and character was publicly attacked. He said the accusation regarding Mr. Longtin’s lawsuit and suggesting the reeve was responsible for a $103 million lawsuit was false. He provided documentation that listed the lawsuit at $1.3 million. He also referenced a January, 2019 news release announcing the town and Mr. Longtin reached an agreement and the monetary amount was settled for an undisclosed amount. He quoted the release saying, “Mr. Longtin acknowledges that the Town’s decision to terminate his employment was carried out in good faith and in accordance with the Town’s understanding of its legal obligation to protect the safety of the community.”  

At the time, Mayor Sidney spoke in favour of the reeve’s motion to remove Coun. McDonald from all committee assignments. He said all members of council must be treated equally in terms of disciplinary actions and council set a precedence when they voted in favour of removing himself and the reeve from their committee assignments one month earlier.

Mayor Sidney added he also suffered immense personal hardship after his character and integrity were publicly attacked when motions demanding his resignation and removal from committees were introduced. He said without the support of his family and friends, it would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to get through the negativity and personal attacks he endured since January 30.

When a recorded vote was called, Reeve Emon’s motion to remove Coun. McDonald was defeated 5-1 with only Mayor Sidney voting in favour. Coun. McDonald did not vote on the motion.

Reeve’s Second Motion Defeated

Just as Coun. McDonald stepped away from the table prior to the clerk introducing the motion at the April 26 meeting, Coun. McWhiter also excused himself from the proceedings and sat among some visitors in the gallery during the May 14 council meeting.

Mayor Sidney read the motion:  “That Renfrew Town Council remove Councillor John McWhirter from all committees, groups and boards in which he has been tasked to be a representative of the Town as a result of his actions which demonstrated a desire or intent to ignore the sound advice of staff and furthermore this will remain in effect from 11:59 pm May 14th, 2024 until 11:59 October 26, 2026.”

He asked for a seconder but none of the councillors raised their hand leading Mayor Sidney to say “I’ll second it if nobody else will, just to get it on the table.”

Reeve Emon once again read from prepared notes.

“It’s unfortunate to have to bring this forward, but around March 2023, Councillor McWhirter convened a meeting with three other councillors which discussed municipal business,” he said. “The meeting could be described as a working lunch and to discuss changes about the duties of employees. I would suggest as a long-time municipal councillor that Councillor McWhirter should have known he was conducting a meeting as four councillors were in attendance.”

He went on to cite Section 3.27 of the town’s municipal by-law and argued the meeting met the town’s definition of an official council meeting. He also referred to Section 238 of the Municipal Act stating “that any regular, special or other meeting of council that has a quorum of members is considered an official meeting if the business of the municipality is discussed. He added that proper public notice was not given and that denied members of the public to attend and no official minutes were recorded as required under the town’s procedural by-law.  

Reeve Emon said because it was technically a meeting, there were several mandatory requirements that were not met including an announcement of the time and place of the meeting; the purpose and subject matter was unknown and a council meeting can only be held in regular council chambers or an alternative site so long as public notice is given.

Reeve Emon reminded council they all took part in a November, 2022 orientation session when all the requirements he listed were presented to all those present, including Coun. McWhirter. He said the town’s procedural by-law states that only the mayor, acting mayor or CAO has the authority to schedule a meeting, an emergency meeting or off-site special meeting where quorum is met.

“I would suggest to you that punishment would be appropriate given that it was a breach of the Code of Conduct and there was an education session prior to the calling of the meeting,” he said. “There’s no doubt there was quorum.”

Reeve Emon said because quorum was met and municipal business was discussed in violation of the town’s by-law, then the only recourse is to invoke sanctions.

“There’s no doubt there was a discussion of municipal business and the suggestion is that the standards that have been applied by council be applied here. There is no sliding scale and there is no recourse for appeal,” he said.

He concluded his statement by reminding his fellow councillors a majority of council previously voted in favour of sanctions against two members (himself and Mayor Sidney) and when they cast their votes, they said it was important to present to the general public that the council they voted in were transparent, fair and wanted to project an image of openness.

His message to them was that council set a precedent whereas any member who has failed in their duties as an elected official must be disciplined through sanctions. In his opinion, Coun. McWhirter knowingly violated the town’s procedural by-law and when he held a council meeting he went against the town’s Code of Conduct.

Therefore, as an equal to his fellow councillors, he is subject to the same sanctions applied to other members that council voted to invoke sanctions upon.

Council Responds

When Mayor Sidney asked council if they had any comments relating to the motion, Coun. McDonald immediately raised his hand and began to read from a prepared statement. However, his statement began with him clarifying his previous statements.

He admitted his claim the reeve allowed the director to enjoy his retirement with a two-year salary was incorrect. He said the total amount was 63 weeks of pay, not 104 weeks.

As for the wrongful termination lawsuit, he maintains he wrote down $1.3 million on his prepared notes, but accidently stated the amount was $103 million.

Coun. McDonald offered no apology to Reeve Emon for his incorrect statements, but rather, he doubled-down on his rationale for previously demanding sanctions against the reeve.

“However, as the former chair of the HR Department, he mishandled both these situations and cost our town millions of dollars,” he said. “What concerns me now is how the reeve has handled these noted mistakes. He is well aware there is an internal process to deal with these types of situations where mistakes are made.”

He accused the reeve of not using proper channels, such as raising a Point of Privilege, to resolve the issue, but instead he requested sanctions be invoked to remove him from committee assignments. He described Reeve Emon’s approach as “using the proverbial sledgehammer to kill a fly.”

Coun. McDonald continued his speech in a much more accusatory nature by stating the reeve was waging a war of “tit-for-tat” and was attempting to intimidate his fellow councillors. He accused him of using his 35 years of municipal experience to continue to bring forth motions of a disciplinary nature.

Coun. McDonald implied an email sent out by the reeve to all of council included a veiled threat towards the new councillors. He said the reeve was warning he and the other councillors to stop blaming himself and the mayor for their role in the Ma-te-Way project.

“I have concerns how this plays out at the county level and I have concerns how the Town of Renfrew is being represented at the county level,” he said. “These motions are petty and he is enacting the punishment, sanctions and retribution that he promised.”

At this point, Coun. McDonald asked CAO Robert Tremblay if he could provide any information regarding the March 2023 meeting.  

Mr. Tremblay said he was informed by the previous town clerk that three of the four members who attended the March 2023 meeting notified the clerk a short while later. He said each member told the clerk they realized after the fact they likely were in contravention of the town’s procedural by-law and Code of Conduct. They assured the previous clerk there would be no further discussion related to that meeting as it was not in their best interest to revisit the topic.

“There was an acknowledgement by the three councillors who attended the meeting that a line may have been crossed, but at the same time they had taken steps to notify the clerk and ensure that it did not happen again,” Mr. Tremblay said.

Councillor Andrew Dick said although he disagreed with Reeve Emon’s motion, he respected the reeve’s experience and he suggested all members are trying to move forward and put the Ma-te-Way blame-game behind them in their own particular way.

He said perhaps Reeve Emon believes his introduction of motions of a disciplinary nature is his preferred method to try and move forward.