Public Input Not Welcome?

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On Friday, I emailed Paula Parker, Amherstburg’s Manager of Municipal Governance (of this post) to request copies of minutes pertaining to council’s decision to form and appoint members to the CAO selection committee as well as minutes of the committee meetings.

I also inquired if there was a notice to the public regarding the procedure by-law similar to the development charges by-law and nuisance smoke by-law.

Ms. Parker’s auto response advised, “I am out of the office on scheduled vacation, I will return to the office on Monday, Sept 8, 2014. I will mot have access to emails, however I will respond to your requests once I return. If your email is urgent in nature please contact Nicole Rubli at nrubli@amherstburg.ca or Tammy Fowkes at tfowkes@amherstburg.ca.”

Given that council will consider its proposed procedure by-law on September 8, the date of Ms. Parker’s return, I emailed both Ms. Rubli and Ms. Fowkes.

Instead, CAO Phipps replied as Ms. Parker emailed him to respond: “Hi Mike, As I am away from the office for the week, can you either reply to or assign this response to someone for me? Thank you, Paula Sent from my iPhone”

Phipps: “Thanks Paula and enjoy your vacation. This is my response to Ms Saxon.

With respect to the CAO hiring process, this matter was discussed in a closed session of Council and you are not entitled to any information from any of those sessions.

There was no notice to the public regarding the draft Procedural By-law. Incidentally, there is no requirement for notice.”

Consistently inconsistent.

Why is a CAO responding to simple inquiries from ratepayers who are paying for a bureaucratic structure at town hall?

Why advertise and welcome input for some by-laws and not others?

Why would a CAO instruct administration not to speak to members of the media, but then use the town website to set forth his version of the alleged facts?

Open and transparent but refuse to disclose information about the contentious leaving/staying CAO and the hiring of a new CAO?

Phipps’ email to me, copied to council, contained errors and omissions that have yet to be corrected but his email to Graham Hobbs is allegedly covered by the Town confidentiality statement so it cannot be shown.

The 2008 Procedure By-law has remained the same since 2008; why not let the new council update it and decide if it wants to hear from the public?

Commentary by Linda Saxon

Town Outsourcing Human Relations, Insurance, Benefits Administration?

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A little over two weeks ago, I made an inquiry regarding “the role of AON Hewitt in relation to the town; the date the service was acquired; the annual cost and the length of the contract.”

According to its website, “Aon is the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services.”

As expected, a bureaucratic process ensued:

Paula Parker, the town’s Manager of Municipal Governance, asked me to clarify “whether you mean Insurance or Human Relations?  Once I have a better understanding, I may better answer your question.”

I replied “just to clarify, any and all roles of AON Hewitt in its relationship to the town.”

Ms. Parker, “Thank you for the clarification Mrs. Saxon, I have copied Michelle Rose, Manager of Human Resources, as she may be better able to assist you with this portion of your request.”  (I also made an inquiry relative to the procedure by-law; more on that will be posted on a future date).

I emailed Ms. Parker, Ms. Rose and all council members, “it’s been two weeks since i asked the question below about AON Hewitt; is it any wonder people complain about a lack of transparency?”

Ms. Parker, “I apologize for the delay in response.  It is my understanding that the Town does not have this information and Michelle Rose, Manager of Human Resources, is trying to obtain the information you have requested from AON Hewitt.   However, has not received the information to date. When I have any other information on the status of your request, I will certainly notify you.”

How could the town not have this information? Either a relationship exists or it doesn’t.

Commentary by Linda Saxon

Lack Of Commitment

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Commentary by Linda Saxon

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there have been approximately two dozen correspondence items regarding an accessibility policy question to council and the accessibility advisory committee, but my question remains unanswered.

From January to March, I corresponded with council/councillors/staff; in January Deputy Mayor Sutherland forwarded my concern to the Accessibility Committee for their input. At the February 18 council meeting, my correspondence was received.

In March I requested the item be placed on the council agenda, but I never received confirmation that it was.

From April to June, I corresponded with Councillor Bart DiPasquale, who is the council representative on the Amherstburg Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAAC). note: all grammatical errors are his.

Below are DiPasquale’s responses regarding the AAAC meetings:

April 23 – the next AAAC meeting is April 24 2024 (his typo) at 5pm Town Hall. Brenda Percy I found had responded to you March 4 2014 advising you your email had been referred to another person. It appears at this time no one acted on it.

April 24 – tonight’s AAAC meeting has been cancelled and rescheduled for May 8 2014 Town Hall 5pm.

April 26 – the meeting date has been rescheduled for May 15 2014 5pm town hall.

May 15 – In keeping you informed ,todays meeting has been rescheduled to next Thursday 5pm.Your information will be delivered at that time to the AAAC committee by me.

May 15 – Please be abvised that the meeting scheduled for today has been rescheduled toMay 22 2014 5pm Town Hall. Your matter should be discussed on that date.

May 16 – Please be advised that last night’s meeting was rescheduled to May 22 2014 5pm Town Hall.

May 25 – Please be advised that the meeting scheduled for May 22 2014 will be held on June 26 th 2014 5pm Town Hall  FYI.

There was no June meeting listed in the River Town Times calendar or on the town’s website.

June 30 – I emailed to request an update following the meeting; I learned that DiPasquale was out of the country. Although he has since returned, I have not received a response.

On June 30, I subsequently emailed council that I would still like an answer.

There were a couple of additional emails, including one on July 1 wherein Councillor Carolyn Davies emailed Nicole Rubli, Could you please look into this licensing question attached below from constituent Linda Sexton.

Also on July 1, Deputy Mayor Ron Sutherland emailed CAO Phipps, Mike, will you respond to Mrs. Saxon or direct her concern to the proper person. Phipps replied, Thanks for the note Ron. I will attempt tomorrow to determine the issue and when Nicole returns from vacation next week, we’ll look into the matter. Perhaps you could or Ms. Saxon could send me her earlier emails. Thanks

July 2, Councillor Diane Pouget emailed, Mrs. Linda Saxon is requesting that her question pertaining to “What policies and procedures are in place regarding accessibility for any and all business license approvals in the Town of Amherstburg,” be placed on the agenda.  It is a very straightforward request and I believe it should be dealt with in public session as requested, since Linda’s request for information appeared to be ignored in the past.

July 2, Phipps replied, Deputy Mayor Sutherland has raised this matter as a result of the Saxon email. I understand there has been a response to her, but administration will have all the details for Council next week when Nicole returns from vacation.

July 19, Phipps emailed a summary, prepared by staff, of contact with me, for the record; he ended it by stating that Administration will take no further action on this matter unless it is once again raised at a Council meeting.

I have requested corrections be made, pursuant to the Freedom of Information legislation, as the record contained factual errors and omissions.

After all the attitudinal barriers I’ve encountered, I shouldn’t be surprised that accessibility is not a priority.

Public Meeting A Lynching?

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As reported in an August 12 River Town Times article by jcharron:

Council agreed to work with Deloitte and town administration to deal with the implementation of the 41 recommendations. Council will also sit down with Deloitte to discuss the recommendations, one that Brindle suggested should be done in public session. Council members sparred over a second public meeting to discuss the issue with residents with Pouget originally suggesting two weeks, then a month. However, that motion was withdrawn until council has their meeting with Deloitte first.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea to take it to the people of this town,” said Councillor Bart DiPasquale.

Sutton said his motion to implement the 41 recommendations stood as is with Councillor Carolyn Davies fearing the meeting could devolve into a “pissing match” like the “lynching” at the Essex Power public meeting. Davies said the meeting had to be “thoughtful” with council having to get a better grasp of the report.

Pillon agreed that more time was needed to meet with Deloitte and get a handle on the recommendations.

“You might as well have a meeting that makes sense, not a lynching,” he said.