Comparing Affordable Transit Passes
Amherstburg does not offer an affordable bus pass program like neighbouring municipalities. However, on September 9, council will consider Administration’s recommendation to waive transit fares for the Uncommon Festival from 6pm on September 20, 2024, through the end of the service day on September 22, 2024. If the taxpayers can absorb the cost for Festival…
Continue readingComparing Amherstburg Council Meeting Behaviour With Others
Compared to Amherstburg council meetings, other local council meetings are a pleasure to watch and they are so much more efficient. Not one mayor passed an imaginary gavel to speak or ask a question as per Robert’s Rules of Order. No longwinded speeches. No repeat questions or belabouring a point. No staff member on either…
Continue readingComparing Amherstburg To Other Municipalities: Routine Disclosure And Active Dissemination Policies
In February 2020, former CAO Miceli advised Amherstburg was ‘in the process of creating a Routine disclosure and Active Dissemination Policy’ but one has still not been created. “Open Government is based on the core belief that the public has the right to access the records and proceedings of government to enable greater openness, accountability,…
Continue readingComparing Cheque Registries
Councillor Pouget campaigned ‘to regain the loss of trust by many of our taxpayers.’ Following her motion to reinstate accounts payable on public agendas, council and administration discussed it for about fifteen minutes at the December 5, 2022 council meeting. Read the full post: Accounts Payable On Agenda: A Matter of Trust. Deputy Mayor Gibb was the lone…
Continue readingComparing Procedural By-law Council Input
As mentioned in Comparing Procedural By-law Public Input, Port Hope residents were invited to provide input; Amherstburg residents were not. Also, Port Hope staff worked ‘with all members of Council to gather their individual input on meeting processes and specific elements of the procedural by-law to ensure the recommended draft by-law is reflective of all points…
Continue readingComparing Procedural By-law Public Input
It would have been so easy, but no public input was sought for the Town of Amherstburg’s newly adopted procedural bylaw, which seems more restrictive than our local comparator municipalities and more than it used to be, despite one of Mayor Prue’s campaign priorities to Promote citizen participation in municipal affairs and allow full deputation rights at town…
Continue readingComparing Procedural By-law Delegate Rules
The Town of Amherstburg’s newly adopted procedural bylaw seems more restrictive than it used to be. When Mayor Prue noticed a raised hand at the September 11 council meeting, he stated a unanimous vote was required to allow Mr. Amlin to speak. Section 5, Introduction, states: Any procedure under this By-law which is discretionary and…
Continue readingDelegate Request Form Amherstburg/Whitby
If you can’t locate information on the town of Amherstburg website, do a search. When I typed in ‘delegate’ the drop down menu appeared as this: A click on the town of Whitby delegation request form resulted in a list including this: Clicking on that link resulted in a pdf of the Amherstburg Delegate Request…
Continue readingStrategic Planning Presentation Request Answered
You might remember that I requested a copy of the April 18 Strategy Corp. slide presentation to Amherstburg town council and CAO Critchley advised, As the slides used by Strategy Corp are proprietary information, should you wish a copy of the presentation, please submit an MFIPPA request. In an email to council and Critchley, I…
Continue readingComparing Amherstburg To Other Municipalities: Inclusive Communities Grants
The Town of Amherstburg applied for, and received $60,000. from the provincial Inclusive Communities Grants Program that helps communities become more inclusive and accessible for people of all ages and abilities. Ontario.ca: “The Inclusive Community Grants Program helps ensure local governments and community organizations consider Ontarians of all ages and abilities at every stage of…
Continue readingComparing Amherstburg To Other Municipalities: Ontario Land Tribunal Cases
Amherstburg currently has six cases listed at the OLT website: Other local municipalities’ cases at the OLT: Essex 0Kingsville 0Lakeshore 0LaSalle 0Leamington 0
Continue readingComparing Municipalities: Integrity Commissioner Complaints
The Public Record reported, Ontario’s Ombudsman Paul Dubé has denounced the City of Hamilton’s practice of charging a $100 fee to file a complaint to Hamilton’s Integrity Commissioners when a person believes there has been a violation of Council’s Code of Conduct. Dubé wrote City Council on January 12, 2022, calling on Council to remove…
Continue readingCommunities Are More Than Festivals
While Amherstburg won a Festival award, Central Huron won the Inclusive Community Based Initiative Award at this year’s Economic Developers Council of Ontario Conference for their Shop-ability Project to create an entire downtown that was accessible. Read the Blackburn News article: Municipality wins award for accessibility project. Anne Rota’s Report To Council on Open Air…
Continue readingComparing Amherstburg To Other Municipalities: Police Requests For Information
The OPP answered my questions without requiring a formal request. When I requested two documents from Windsor Police, its FOI Coordinator advised me of the $5 fee for Municipal Freedom of Information and the Protection of Privacy Act requests; she quoted section 17(1)(c). She did respond but stated any further requests should be in accordance with the…
Continue readingComparing Amherstburg To Other Municipalities: ‘Missed opportunities’: Saanich park renovation excludes people with disabilities: advocate
Does this sound familiar? A park renovation has one Saanich mother frustrated about a lack of accessibility for people with disabilities in design processes for public amenities. Read the full Vancouver island Free Daily article.
Continue readingComparing Amherstburg To Other Municipalities: Satisfied With Police Service
I reached out to Essex County mayors of OPP policed municipalities and inquired if they have conducted any satisfaction surveys about policing in their communities. Included in this post is the audio of Deputy Mayor Gibb’s February 8 comments; he mentioned that he spoke to other municipal leaders in the county and certain ones have said they’re not satisfied with…
Continue readingComparing Amherstburg To Other Municipalities: Accessibility Committee Applications
How will council appoint applicants on January 23 pursuant to the AODA 2005 if they are unaware of applicants’ eligibility? Section 29 (3) of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2005 states: ‘A majority of the members of the committee shall be persons with disabilities. 2005, c. 11, s. 29 (3).’ Amherstburg advertised, ‘A majority of the members…
Continue readingComparing Amherstburg To Other Municipalities: Candidates’ Questions
Are candidate and third party advertiser questions to administration disclosed to the public? I received two different answers when I requested the same information from Amherstburg and Toronto. Amherstburg: I requested information, without revealing the source, to post to the burg watch blog. Answer from CAO Critchley: Please file a Freedom of Information Request for this…
Continue readingComparing Amherstburg To Other Municipalities
How do other municipalities deal with issues affecting residents? I plan to find out and create a series of posts making comparisons. Through Administrative reports to council, municipalities are compared for wage increases, voting methods and the recently debated accounts payable on the agenda motion.
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