Tag Archives: Michael Prue

Open Air Opinion

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The Windsor Star published my letter to the editor about Open Air on December 22, in response to a December 5 article, but it altered and deleted some content.

The article, Amherstburg keeps ‘controversial’ Open Air festival at 14 weekends mentioned that the administrative report “pointed to some businesses and demographics — particularly seniors and those with limited mobility — being heavily impacted by the festival, something highlighted by Pouget and Coun. Molly Allaire.”

The only impact I found mentioned in the report is the economic impact with a separate appendix that lists the economic impact; Total Visitors’ Spending $4,286,991

Comments deleted:

  • the part where I stated that I couldn’t find any mention in the report of seniors and ‘those with limited mobility’ being heavily impacted, nor could I find it being highlighted by Allaire; it was only Councillor Pouget that addressed the accessibility issue.
  • The number one complaint in the residents’ survey was accessibility so it’s pointless to tout closed streets as a family event if children with disabilities are excluded from accessing play areas.
  • Members of council that campaigned in favour of Open Air refuse to change their positions despite the negative impacts on some residents and businesses. I disagree with Mayor Prue that ‘this is a great thing that is happening in the town.’ Prue has bragged that he was in the legislature when the AODA was passed but declared last year that in this town we have not brought it into force. What are we waiting for?

Mayor Prue’s Response to Open Air Complaints and Lawsuit Inquiry

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I requested Mayor Prue’s comments about Open Air complaints and former CAO Peter Simmons’ lawsuit, which he answered below.

  • how many complaints about open air have you received?
    Prue: I have received less than 10 complaints including your own, since becoming Mayor.
  • how many complaints about open air has the town received?
    Prue: I do not have that statistic. We have a seven member Council and many paid staff.
  • what are your comments regarding peter simmons’ lawsuit against the town?
    Prue: I have no comment as this is a personnel matter.  This was clearly enunciated by the Town’s CAO to you, in the past few weeks.

Follow-up question:

Regarding answer 2: if you don’t have the statistics of complaints the town has received, do you feel you’d be making a well-informed decision about what is in the best interest of the town?

Regarding answer 3: I did not ask the CAO for a comment; I asked if she could confirm the claim against the town by former CAO Peter Simmons. I only asked you for comments about it since you’re the official spokesperson.

No New Town Hall Yet

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One of then-candidate Michael Prue’s 2022 campaign website priorities was, ‘Ensure all town buildings are accessible to facilitate an open and inclusive municipality.’

The JS Held Facility Condition Assessment Report stated, The building is non AODA compliant for, it is not possible to convert this building to make accessible due to the general construction of the building. This building was designed as a multilevel building with provision for accessibility in mind. Council considered the report in 2023 that also stated ‘the cost to convert the town hall to AODA compliant is $291,117.78.’

Dog Park = $165,000.
Libro Trail Over expenditure = $170,000
Total spent on two projects = $335,000.

Pickleball courts $450,000.

In the meantime, all goods and services provided to the public at Town Hall are able to be accommodated based upon the current design.’

CAO CRITCHLEY

According to Councillor Allaire, CAO Critchley advised her:

“The Corporation of the Town of Amherstburg is committed to fulfilling the requirements set out in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, and all regulations under that Act which require the Town of Amherstburg to establish policies, procedures and practices governing the provision of its goods and services to persons with disabilities.

To meet the goal of a fully accessible Town of Amherstburg on or before January 1, 2025, the establishment, implementation, maintenance and documentation of a Multi-Year Accessibility Plan outlines the Town of Amherstburg’s strategy to prevent and remove barriers.”

It should be further noted that the AODA requires that all newly built or significantly renovated structures from the date of adoption (2005) must comply with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and Ontario Building Code requirements. Buildings which were constructed prior to that date are not required to conform to those standards when determining whether the Town is in compliance with the standards.

That said, the Town of Amherstburg has adopted the Facility Accessibility Design Standards (FADS) of the City of Windsor, which are utilized to provide guidance on projects that involve the redevelopment of, or construction of, new facilities, with higher than legislated standards for the built environment. The Town has also recently embarked on a Facility Condition Needs Assessment Study and will be completing a Space Needs Analysis, with the findings to be presented to Council on what should be done with aging facilities. 

Should a recommendation involve the significant renovation of, or construction of, a new Town Hall building, then the building would be required to comply with the AODA, and the design would also entail suggested areas of improvement based upon the Facility Accessibility Design Guidelines for Council’s consideration.

Delegation Request Denied

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Utterly ridiculous.

Do you remember when the Michael Prue working for YOU campaign website listed some of his priorities?

‘Municipal government affects us all. I am committed to ensuring all citizens to have a say on the issues affecting their lives in Amherstburg. To be fully informed. To participate in review processes. To provide and share their opinions. I believe in local democracy.’

‘Promote citizen participation in municipal affairs and allow full deputation rights at town meetings.’

During his November 28 inaugural speech, Prue mentioned some changes, including, publishing the agenda a week before the meeting so that would give everyone an opportunity to know what’s happening and to be part of the process. He hoped Council would agree to allow more public deputations without having to all put their hands up and waive the rules every single time; he thought people should have the right to make a deputation before Council when the item is on the agenda.

I wanted to speak to an agenda item so I completed the online delegation form and Deputy Clerk Sarah Sabihuddin emailed:

Thank you for your email expressing your intention to speak on agenda item 17.1 – “AMCTO Advocacy Update – Looking Ahead: A Proactive Submission to Modernize the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.” 

I would like to bring to your attention Section 9.4 of our Procedural By-Law. This section states that delegations during Council proceedings are permitted in relation to matters listed on the agenda stemming from all Administrative reports and by-laws. While your request is valid and important, it does not directly relate to a report or by-law, and therefore, it does not qualify as a delegation under the procedural framework.

In light of this, I would like to suggest an alternative method of civic participation for your concerns to be raised. You may submit written communication addressing your concerns and recommendations regarding the AMCTO correspondence you are advocating for to Members of Council. This written submission can be circulated among Council members for their knowledge and awareness. Should a member of Council wish to bring this up during New Business and make a request for an Administrative Report on this item then once this report comes back onto the public agenda then you would be able to delegate at that time as per the procedural by-law.

In relation to your other concerns noted, I want to assure you that we redact all personal information (except for names) on the delegation forms as a standard best practice before placing on the public agenda.

In relation to your other concern regarding the method for which someone wishes to delegate to Council, once their delegation request form is submitted and approved there is a process undertaken to reach out to that individual to discuss the method for which they are requesting their appearance to take place.

If you have any further questions please let me know.

I replied,

thank you for the information. the refusal to allow me to speak to an item on the agenda is duly noted and confirms my position that the procedural by-law council passed is very restrictive. members of council should recall that in june, following nancy atkinson’s delegation, council supported Councillor Pouget’s motion and passed a resolution directing administration ‘to bring back a report regarding a Routine Disclosure Policy.’ Admin has not yet provided a report as directed. The Unfinished Business list stated a report was coming to council in Q3, but it’s been 7 months and no report has materialized. if or when an admin report appears on a future agenda, i will be happy to speak to it.

Candidate Michael Prue On Budgets 2022

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During the 2022 mayoral portion of the Chamber of Commerce candidate night, Michelle Maluske of CTV reporter asked, The Town of Amherstburg has a $54 million budget and as mayor, you may hold a unique role as the chair of a council of six elected to govern and lead our town. What makes you uniquely qualified and the best person for the job? Why do you want to be mayor?

Michael Prue’s answer: (listen to the audio).

Thank you. And first of all, the mayor is an absolutely unique role in every municipality in Ontario and indeed in Canada. The mayor’s job is not only to lead, but the mayor’s job is also to try to seek consensus from amongst the seven individuals who sit around the table and also to listen very carefully to the staff and try to come together so that a common decision can be made so that the entire council can go out and support it. I have spent a lifetime working on budgets 17 years as as a municipal politician and 13 years in the province of Ontario, I’ve been on the budget committees, I’ve been on the audit committees in all of them. And I will tell you, it is a difficult task, but it’s made easier if you have a resolve. And my resolve has always been that we have to start every budget with no increase. And in the past this this town has come in and the CAO has said we want eight and nine and 10% and council’s had to beat it back. But I believe that we should be coming in at no increase or whatever inflation is and work from there. And if you do a zero based budget, you’re going to get far better results than if you do it the way that it’s been done in the past. And I believe my experience coming in with 17 budgets municipally with no tax increases, save and except the last one, no tax increases at all will will allow this town to go forward and assured that there will be that there will be sufficient money and we will make it we will make it work. I know that people are saying we’re broke, but we’re not really broke. There is enough money in in the in I’ll deal with that later. There is enough money in our budget and in our coffers to make sure that there is no necessity for a tax increase this year.

Open Air – If They Vote How Will They Vote?

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The Open Air Report is on tonight’s meeting agenda and I predict another majority vote in favour, not necessarily a 4-3 vote.

Everyone on council knows about the accessibility issues because everyone is aware of the number of times I complained, despite the rebuttals; but now the survey results indicate more people have noted the accessibility and parking concerns.

Councillor Crain: I’ll start with the sole opposition to this survey. In August, Crain said he can’t grasp why Open Air specifically; they’ve done an Open Air survey for residents and businesses so he felt a survey just on Open Air seems to be wasting staff time.

CAO Critchley confirmed in an email that they have surveyed visitors and the businesses inside and outside the footprint but not a resident wide survey.

On February 22, Crain asked staff, hasn’t the past Council already looked at ways to refine open air and that’s why some of the barricades were moved in closer? This feels a bit redundant to me if this has already been looked at by council. And from last night and from what we’ve been hearing, it’s pretty clear that the format is great. But based on my understanding, council’s already looked at this.

Crain was part of the team that created the THRIVE Open Air white paper; from the THRIVE website, ‘We believe that it should be a permanent summer feature.’ 

On March 13, Crain said he didn’t even think Open Air should have been a topic of discussion. He also thought they shouldn’t even be discussing this every year because eventually it’s going to be nothing.

On September 16, I asked Crain if he considered declaring a conflict of interest for Open Air discussions involving the event itself and the survey? No response.

As a candidate, in answer to one of the burg watch 2022 campaign questions to the candidates asking if they will remove barriers during Open Air weekends, Crain said yes. He voted in favour.

Councillor McArthur: has happily and consistently championed Open Air. As council’s rep to the Accessibility Advisory Committee, I expected he would advocate to remove barriers. He spewed out the statistics from an admin report on the number of parking spaces within a six-minute walking radius. ‘If there are persisting issues with accessibility, let’s work collaboratively to address them in consultation with the Town’s Accessibility Advisory Committee.’ But he’s on the committee. He voted in favour.

Deputy Mayor Gibb: wears a few hats: business owner, chamber of commerce member, family member, elected official but he publicly admitted he’s a huge fan. While he emailed, as Deputy Mayor, that he was ‘proud to say that I did complete the ADOA training that was offered to all members of council and I hope to put what I learned into practice not only in my “municipal life” but also in my personal life. And then he said, Open Air makes the downtown more accessible for people with in at least in wheelchairs because his mother-in-law and father-in-law both live at Richmond Terrace and he’s personally pushed a wheelchair from Richmond Terrace downtown. He voted in favour.

Mayor Prue: has given a few speeches at council meetings about being in the legislature when the AODA was introduced decades ago. He stated he has never seen any problem with access and cited his wife as Chair of the Accessibility Committee. I have discussed it with her, she has never once said that there was any accessibility problem brought to that committee or anyone on the committee. He acknowledged one complainant, but he doesn’t necessarily agree with what’s being said; so it is accessible.

Prue asked council to find it in their hearts to compromise with the other side; he broke the tie vote in favour.

Councillor Pouget: has consistently acknowledged the town’s obligation to remove barriers that prevent people with disabilities from equally participating in the community.

Councillor Courtney: has also acknowledged the importance of accessibility, removing barriers and considering the interests of the whole community.

Councillor Allaire: considered pros and cons and seemed to want to compromise in favour of a shorter time frame.

Comparing Procedural By-law Public Input

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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 meetings.

The Town of Port Hope, population approximately 17,538, conducted a Procedural By-law Review and actually wanted input from its residents; from their website:

Through this review, we hope to:

  • Improve the meeting experience for all attendees, including public, delegates and Council Members
  • Ensure decision making is efficient
  • Reflect the changing demographics within the municipality
  • Account for changes in technology

Why is it important?

The Procedural By-law is important because it: 

  1. Ensures fairness and consistency in the decision making process
  2. Fosters respectful conduct and collaborative approaches to decision making
  3. Supports an open, accountable, transparent governance process so that the public, Council and staff understand how decisions are made and what to expect at the meetings.

CALL TO ACTION

Email Mayor Pure: mprue@amherstburg.ca to remind him one of his campaign priorities was to Promote citizen participation in municipal affairs and allow full deputation rights at town meetings.

Then-Candidates Prue And McArthur On Open Air At Chamber Candidates’ Nights

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Then-candidate Prue mentioned his hope that some of those businesses will contribute; then-candidate McArthur mentioned conditions that are going to allow a hotel to open and flourish in downtown Amherstburg. Excerpts of their speeches are below, as well as links to the Chamber of Commerce videos.

Question from the moderator to the mayoral candidates: What are your views on partnering our tourism department with other municipalities to lower costs?

Michael Prue:

I know it’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but…We need to have a real hard look at that and see whether or not it should continue. If it continues I would hope that some of those businesses will contribute because it should not all fall on the taxpayers. If they are making money off this and they want to have it keep going then they have to shoulder some of that responsibility. But I do think that Open Air is a good thing, and I had a really good suggestion from someone the other day we put up barricades, but there are stores on both sides of the barricades that are not getting business. We should put up big posters at the end to say it doesn’t end here at the barricade. There are stores in this direction in this direction and this direction to make sure everybody has an opportunity to benefit.

Chamber of Commerce YouTube video: Prue’s comments at 2:25:58

Question from the moderator to the councillor candidates: What are your views on the future of Open Air?

Donald McArthur:

My views on this are pretty well known. I love open air weekends. I’ve been a proponent from the start.

If we send a message as council that we believe in the transformative potential of Open Air weekends those are the conditions that are going to allow a hotel to open and flourish in downtown Amherstburg. If there are issues with accessibility, we need to ensure that we have accessible parking spaces on the edge, but we need to invest in open air it needs to continue because it’s fantastic for residents and for our tourists.

Chamber of Commerce YouTube video: McArthur’s comments at 33:58

Three Councillors Campaigned To Remove Barriers During Open Air

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The burg watch Open Air posts’ viewing statistics have increased, particularly then-candidates’ opinions, which is worth repeating.

Will you remove barriers during Open Air weekends that block people with disabilities from driving to the bank, local stores, bars, and generally driving through town?

  1. Councillor Peter Courtney: Of course I would!
  2. Councillor Diane Pouget: Yes, I am definitely in favor of removing barriers for people with disabilities during Open Air.  The fact that 51% of the businesses in the downtown core want the closure of streets for 3 days on weekends and 4 days on long weekends from May to September is unreasonable and unfair.  This is especially true, since 49% claim that Open Air hurts their business, especially their clients with disability issues.  Further to that, the taxpayers are footing the bill to hurt our most vulnerable residents.  It was disappointing to learn that only one person with a disability was consulted. This is unfair and must be revisited.
  3. Councillor Linden Crain: Yes. It is important that all members of the community can experience Open Air. If there are particular barriers in place, I am more than willing to investigate further and help find a solution.

Councillor Donald McArthur: If there are persisting issues with accessibility, let’s work collaboratively to address them in consultation with the Town’s Accessibility Advisory Committee. Let’s not give up on something that engages our youth while promoting economic development, something that sets our Town apart in a positive way and creates the sort of bustling environment where a hotel cannot only open but flourish.

Councillor Molly Allaire: I love Open Air Weekends, my family partakes every weekend for sure. I will be honest after going door to door my eyes have been opened up to a great deal of problems in our town that I was unaware of. Open air has many positives and negatives. I think the blockades that they created this year allow better parking for the majority. We could make it more accessible for people with disabilities by blocking off the waterfront parking area specifically for them allowing closer access to amenities. I also believe that open air is wonderful but should only be one day instead of 3. Many residents say that it is more of a nuisance trying to get to their bank, business, home etc. Business owners have stated that their business has actually done worse during these hours because lack of access to the area. I think having it one day would be a fair compromise and make it still an event for people to come and enjoy.

No Answers:

Mayor Michael Prue
Deputy Mayor Gibb