KHR Mayor Dave Mayville hosted an impromptu policy and procedures committee meeting last Tuesday (May 13th) to discuss introducing a set of rules for communication. Councillor Ted Browne was adamant to the mayor’s proposal. Calling the changes unnecessary, he told the committee he was just waiting for the next chance to vote it down.

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Killaloe – New policies introduced by Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards (KHR) Township Mayor Dave Mayville at a meeting last Tuesday were met with resounding scrutiny, as discontent and public sparring among members of council in past months has prompted a new attempt to restore order.

The situation came to a head recently when members of council met to discuss a new set of rules outlined by Mayor Mayville. Calling an impromptu Policy and Procedure Committee meeting last Tuesday (May 13th), the mayor looked to address concerns surrounding the governance of behaviour outside of the council chambers.

While he’s not a committee member, Councillor Bil Smith attended the meeting as a special guest and used the chance to share his thoughts. When asked by Councillor Ted Browne how he came up with the ideas for the policies, Mayor Mayville told him it was a combination used by neighbouring municipalities.

“This is a total draft,” he cautioned. “The idea is to beat this up as much as you want.”

Coun. Browne went on to do just that.

“I definitely don’t like the media stuff,” he replied. He was referring to the section of the multi-page document which wrote that all requests from the media should be replied to within two days of being received. The mayor told him he thought a 48-hour timeline was reasonable, but Coun. Browne reminded him they previously discussed not answering certain requests whatsoever.

Coun. Smith said the answers to the questions they receive are often multifaceted and can take up to half a day to come up with.

“They’re intricate, detailed, issue driven kind of questions. And you don’t want to answer them wrong, especially if you want to make sure you’re delivering a very clear message,” he said. “Our staff are in the business of providing service to the residents not to the media.”

Councillor Carl Keuhl suggested media could be a responsibility of township CAO/Clerk-Treasurer, Tammy Gorgerat, adding these matters should come to council before anything.

Coun. Smith said there’s a benefit to responding when they can, but he doesn’t want to tell staff how to manage their day. Coun. Browne then turned the discussion towards Mayor Mayville, asking him why he supported the policies he was proposing.

“Well, I think because of a lot of things that have gone on, not just social media,” he explained.

Coun. Browne asked for an example other than the recent situation between the pair, to which the mayor came up empty handed and told him he’d need to do some pondering.

“Number one, we don’t have a policy like this anywhere in our by-laws. I think we need one. It gives us structure, stability and transparency. There’s been instances of things that have happened that we need to govern ourselves with this,” Mayor Mayville said.

The councillor pressed further, adding, “Okay, again, I need examples of stuff that’s happened on social media that’s involved a councillor, staff or employee.”

Coun. Browne told the mayor the push for new policies seemed to be prompted by the comments on social media not long ago. He told the committee he’s been a member of council for over a decade and never once heard of complaints.

“I’ve typed lots of them but I delete them before I hit send,” Coun. Smith joked.

Coun. Smith told the group he doesn’t disagree with the idea of a policy, but wants to make sure it doesn’t hold council or township staff to a standard they don’t want or need to have. The mayor recognized he may have gone to an extreme with some of his ideas, but added it’s a starting point with room for growth. He assured Coun. Browne it’s not his fault.

“It’s not called the Ted Browne communication policy. It’s not that. That has nothing to do with it. I just think we need this in-” Coun. Browne cut him off, saying, “Well I know it’s not Ted Browne, because Ted Browne never put anything on social media.”

The mayor replied that he truly believes the township would benefit from the policies. The committee continued reviewing the policy suggestions brought forward by Mayor Mayville and went on to examine several other points on staff responsibilities and guidelines.

Coun. Smith highlighted the proposed role of a “community coordinator,” to which he said to remove the parts about prompting internal conversations among staff. He said it’s no one person’s job to coordinate
healthy discussions, but suggested the point be changed to regard just the governance of social media. The committee agreed Community Development Officer, Colton Charbonneau would assume responsibility as he already runs the online pages.

Another matter raised in the discussion was the use of the blind carbon copy (BCC) feature in emails. Mayor Mayville’s policy suggested council stop using it entirely to enforce collective transparency. He said they’re used by Ms. Gorgerat to ensure council doesn’t have an exchange over email that could be construed as an illegal meeting.

The committee continued reviewing the sheets of draft policies when Coun. Smith brought up a another point. Referring back to training with municipal law specialist Tony Fleming, he suggested all official social media pages run by members of council must include in their public description that the views expressed on their page do not reflect those of the council. Mayor Mayville adjusted the policy to reflect Coun. Smith’s idea.

Coun. Smith raised one final point from the pages, which stated “matters that have been formally introduced or discussed by council shall not be shared or commented on via township social media,” which he added was fine, “or by township representatives in any capacity.”

He told the committee he had a problem with that last line, since as a township representative himself, its not uncommon these matters come up with locals in an informal setting.

“I never know what’s going to come to my page. People come to you and talk to you all the time,” he said gesturing to the mayor. “And that’s how we know what issues are. That’s how stuff bubbled up from the bottom.”

Coun. Smith told the committee he takes issue with matters needing to be formally introduced and discussed by council before they have a discussion with someone about them.

“So, someone comments on my Instagram post and says, ‘stupid f***ing township, you should cut down all the trees.’ I can’t respond to that because I shouldn’t be able to discuss that with them unless its come to this council first, which doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Council ultimately decided to approve the policy with several pending changes to mull over. It will be forwarded to all members of council at its May 20th meeting for the rest of them to vote on.