Mayor DiCarlo confirmed that it was a Board decision to provide a cheap silver retirement badge to Sgt. Jim Saxon and he did anticipate it might be an issue. Nothing changed.
Two sets of badges were ordered – one in silver for all retiring officers in 2013/2014 and another in gold for everyone but Sgt. Saxon.
As of November 18, 2014, APSB members were John Sutton, Frank Cleminson, Pauline Gemmell and Wayne Hurst.
Also posted to bullyinginpolicing.com on the saxon page.
The then-OCCPS approved the 1999 amalgamation of the new Amherstburg police and the three patrol zones on the one condition that no changes were to be made without the written permission of OCCPS.
By 2010, the three patrol zones were reduced to two and Amherstburg Police Chief Berthiaume was tight-lipped about deployment in the previous year citing the release of this information could reasonably be expected to make their work more dangerous in many situations endangering the life or physical safetly of our law enforcement officers.
The year had already passed so how very unlikely that addressing accountability would have endangered anyone.
OCPC has now approved Windsor’s proposal to provide only two patrol zones.
The Commission has advised its decision regarding the Town’s application to disband the Amherstburg police services will deal with the changes to the policing in Amherstburg since the Commission’s previous decision.
The full decision with reasons will be provided by the end of August.
Policing costs were a hot topic in 2014 and a then-newly elected council was committed to comparing all policing options, which would have been the most fiscally responsible course of action.
As posted in How Then-Candidate Aldo DiCarlo Answered About OPP Costing, then-Mayoral candidate Aldo DiCarlo answered theburgwatch questions from residents, stating, in part:
“What I can say, what I know, is that the current board didn’t do their due diligence in acquiring the information for us to make an educated decision on what would be best for the town…information that would have been ‘free’. I would definitely acquire this information, if given the chance, and then work with the appropriate parties to achieve what’s best for the Town, or more importantly, what the Town feels is best for them.
I have recently been corrected on who is required to request the costing for OPP. I am told that the OPP costing must be requested by Council, not the Police Board. The rest of my position remains the same. There has been numerous years to request OPP costing by Council, of which there was no cost to the Town.”
Mayor DiCarlo was given the chance but did not acquire the information despite counciI’s two motions directing Administration to obtain an OPP costing and work with the OPP on the costing. Those two motions were neither implemented nor rescinded.
The Windsor Star quoted Mayor Aldo DiCarlo on the rebranding, “As much as we want to keep everything local, it has to be a competitive process,” said DiCarlo.
The police costing process should have been just as competitive to achieve the optimal savings for the ratepayers that was promised during the 2014 election campaign.
As for the assurances that all current Amherstburg officers will remain except the chief and deputy chief, no one knows how many officers will stay in Amherstburg and forego career opportunities in Windsor.
Maintaining the status quo, other than the top two hierarchical positions, superseded the promise to compare options and realize optimal savings.
Commentary by Linda Saxon
The Windsor Star article, Amherstburg residents will get a referendum on policing after all reported on the positions of Mayoral candidates DiCarlo and Swinton:
Swinton doesn’t think the majority of residents wanted to contract out policing and he’s concerned costs will rise in the long run and the town won’t be able to do anything about it.
“You can’t effectively predict a cost savings on policing needs on a community that’s growing and expanding.”
DiCarlo said the cost of policing was a big issue when he was campaigning for mayor in 2014. He said the service level will remain the same, with all the current Amherstburg officers remaining with the exception of the chief and deputy chief.
The Canadian Human Rights Reporter’s blog post, an article by Jeffrey R. Smith, editor of Canadian Employment Law Today.
am800 reported FORMER AMHERSTBURG POLICE BOARD CHAIR SPEAKS OUT.
Frank Cleminson says the decision should have happened after the OCPC finished its investigation into the Windsor Police Service.
Between January and April of this year the OCPC says it received complaints from members of Windsor Police Service that raised serious concerns about the workplace environment, the administration, and the oversight provided by the Windsor Police Services Board.
CTV News reports on the official decision.
am800 reported on Glenn Swinton’s campaign to unseat current mayor Aldo DiCarlo:
He says he’s not a fan with how the current council operates.
“I think that the focus of our current council, the strengthen of our current council kind of needs a revision,” says Swinton. “As I watch how they handle certain aspects of what they deal with and how they’re handling it, I find our mayor is not entirely operating as the head of council and I find that our council is kind of following a lead for the sake of ease.”
As predicted, the list grew; it’s interesting to see so many Amherstburg Police Services Board members register but they will lose their board positions if Windsor Police takes over.
It’ll be a new council since Courtney and DiPasquale are not in the race and three current councillors are seeking the Deputy Mayor’s seat.
Mayor (Elect 1)
DiCarlo, Aldo
Swinton, Glenn
Deputy Mayor (Elect 1)
Fryer, Richard (Rick)
Meloche, Leo
Pouget, Diane
Rozankovic, Bob
Councillor (Elect 5)
Cleminson, Frank
Courtney, Peter
Gemmell, Pauline
Keenan, Libby (Elizabeth)
Lavigne, Jason
Lazanja, Lena
McArthur, Donald
Menna, John
Moore, Gregory
Prue, Michael
Renaud, Marc
Simone, Patricia
Sutherland, Ron
Wightman, Lori
Pauline Gemmell, unsuccessful muncipal candidate in 2014 and Amherstburg Police Services Board member, has registered.
Candidates have until July 27 to file nomination papers and no doubt the list will expand by then.
A survey on the nurse practitioner led clinic is at the town of Amherstburg’s website.
Once again, there is no posting about alternate accessible methods of communication. Additionally, a sign in is required whereas residents may want to have a say without their identities being required.
There is also, once again, no notice about the collection of personal information pursuant to the legislation.
As mentioned in the Privacy Concerns Regarding Downtown Survey Founded, the Information and Privacy Commissioner Ontario confirmed that the Town of Amherstburg’s advertisement regarding the downtown use survey did not satisfy all of the notice requirements in section 29(2) of the Act.
Specifically, it did not notify residents of the legal authority for the collection of their personal information or provide information about whom to contact with any questions about the collection.
The Windsor Star reported, earlier this year town council earmarked $75,000 to develop a fresh campaign strategy for attracting visitors and investors.
In May, the Windsor Star reported on the plan moving forward and how Cinnamon Toast New Media Inc. — a company with offices in Hamilton and Ottawa — was tapped as the winning bidder from a pool of 16. The bids were ranked according to criteria including experience with similar projects and the proponent’s strategy and presentation.
“As much as we want to keep everything local, it has to be a competitive process,” said DiCarlo. “They provided the best proposal to the town.”
With the abundance of town staff, one could question why such an expenditure was necessary.
When the rebranding issue was discussed by council in 2013, the River Town Times reported Councillor Pouget questioned the cost and lack of public input.
What has changed?
Surverymonkey. Residents can fill out an online survey. Shamefully, though, there is no posting about alternate accessible formats for people with disabilities.
Commentary by Linda Saxon
Glenn Swinton, who campaigned for a councillor position in the 2014 election, has registered as a mayoral candidate.
Swinton started the Stop the Amherstburg Police Services Takeover petition at change.org.
Libby (Elizabeth), Keenan, Lena Lazanja, and Michael Prue have all registered.
Candidates have until July 27 to file nomination papers.
Patricia Simone, council hopeful and an Amherstburg Police Services Board member who signed the three year police contract on September 19, 2017 with fellow board members Robert Rozankovic, also campaigning for a council seat, as he did in 2014, and Aldo DiCarlo, campaigning for a second term as Mayor, all agreeing to maintain the ‘poison pill’ clause should OPP or other service take over policing the Town of Amherstburg.
Ron Sutherland, former Deputy Mayor and 2014 Mayoral candidate is campaigning for a council seat.
Candidates have until July 27 to file nomination papers.
Mayor DiCarlo advised me the OPP and Windsor responses would be made public after the consultant and steering committee reviewed the responses and council received the reports.
However, as mentioned in this post, Town Clerk Paula Parker advised I would have to request it from Windsor Police Services directly. On June 11, the Windsor Police Privacy Coordinator advised I must make an access request, pursuant to the Municipal Freedom of Information Act.
The Windsor Police Service has denied access to the proposal in its entirety, citing the following exemptions:
Law enforcement
8 (1) A head may refuse to disclose a record if the disclosure could reasonably be expected to,
(c) reveal investigative techniques and procedures currently in use or likely to be used in law enforcement;
(e) endanger the life or physical safety of a law enforcement officer or any other person;
(g) interfere with the gathering of or reveal law enforcement intelligence information respecting organizations or persons;
(l) facilitate the commission of an unlawful act or hamper the control of crime.
Third party information
10 (1) A head shall refuse to disclose a record that reveals a trade secret or scientific, technical, commercial, financial or labour relations information, supplied in confidence implicitly or explicitly, if the disclosure could reasonably be expected to,
(a) prejudice significantly the competitive position or interfere significantly with the contractual or other negotiations of a person, group of persons, or organization;
Economic and other interests
11 A head may refuse to disclose a record that contains,
(c) information whose disclosure could reasonably be expected to prejudice the economic interests of an institution or the competitive position of an institution;
(f) plans relating to the management of personnel or the administration of an institution that have not yet been put into operation or made public;
(g) information including the proposed plans, policies or projects of an institution if the disclosure could reasonably be expected to result in premature disclosure of a pending policy decision or undue financial benefit or loss to a person;
Application of Act
(3) Subject to subsection (4), this Act does not apply to records collected, prepared, maintained or used by or on behalf of an institution in relation to any of the following:
1. Proceedings or anticipated proceedings before a court, tribunal or other entity relating to labour relations or to the employment of a person by the institution.
2. Negotiations or anticipated negotiations relating to labour relations or to the employment of a person by the institution between the institution and a person, bargaining agent or party to a proceeding or an anticipated proceeding.
3. Meetings, consultations, discussions or communications about labour relations or employment-related matters in which the institution has an interest.
