By Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
The majority of Council for the County of Essex voted to direct administration to create a report on the feasibility of creating a distribution list for all members of County Council that aligns with the County’s Strategic Plan in working together as a team for residents.
The potential creation of a joint email would include the 14 County Councillors, the Clerk, and CAO, so residents can share opinions and provide feedback to County Council as a whole.
Eight were in support, with five opposed to the motion.
Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy brought the idea of creating a joint email forward as a Notice of Motion at the October 16 meeting. She saw this as an opportunity for residents to share opinions and provide feedback to County Council as a whole.
Some Councillors voiced support for the idea, while others shared concerns.
Bondy said she wants to do her homework, and part of that is hearing from residents in other municipalities who have County-related concerns before voting on issues at the regional decision-making table.
County Council is comprised of the Mayors and Deputy Mayors from Essex, Kingsville, Leamington, Lakeshore, Tecumseh, LaSalle, and Amherstburg.
“If we do a Strategic Plan, and we say we want to work as a team, and we say we want to hear from residents, our actions have to match that,” Bondy said. “We have to change.”
To her own research, none of the upper-level municipal Councils in the province have this tool, which would mean Essex County would lead the way.
Looking up 14 different emails is a lot of work, she added.
Mayor of Leamington, Hilda MacDonald, offered the strongest opposition to Bondy’s motion. She said she prefers to remain neutral in her role as Warden of Essex County but would vote against the group email.
That is based on the fact that if a resident in her community has an issue with the County, she expects them to send that email to her or to the County itself.
“If another Mayor got involved in an issue in my town, I would be more than angry. You have no business being involved in something that takes place within my borders, even if it is an EMS situation or Sun Parlour Home [which are County operations]. I’d be telling you fairly quickly to stay out of my ‘hood,” MacDonald said.
She said she understood what Bondy was going after, “but seriously, if we stick our nose in our other mayors’ municipalities, expect to get not your knuckles rapped, expect to get kicked in the knee, because I would not appreciate that one bit.”
Bondy called a Point of Order, noting it was not about sharing opinions. “We are talking County business, not your personal Mayor business.”
The Warden noted there is County business in the local municipalities.
“If a resident in my community complained about what was going on, on a County Road, in my municipality, and someone else came to that meeting – another Mayor – and spoke to that, I would not be happy.”
LaSalle Deputy Mayor Mike Akpata understood where Bondy was coming from and supported it, but wanted to ensure a group email would not constitute an illegal meeting if “answer all” is used.
CAO Sandra Zwiers said there are some challenges or cautions surrounding group emails. She said Administration would be pleased to put together a report regarding appropriate parameters surrounding the creation of such a distribution list to ensure County Councillors are all on the same page as it pertains to intent and appropriate use.
“In speaking with our Clerk, we really want to make sure County Council doesn’t unnecessarily step its toe into an illegal closed session meeting, which other municipalities in this province have been caught on with the Integrity Commissioner,” Zwiers said. That could include inadvertently replying to all or having back-and-forth discussions in a group email setting.
Mayor Michael Prue noted there is a similar system in Amherstburg, where Council members and staff get the email. It does cause problems sometimes as it is not known who is responding to the email. He had concern at the County-level as to who would respond.
“When it is sent to all of us, what is stopping any member of Council from replying to it and creating a huge [brouhaha],” in having a County Councillor answer something not from their elected municipality. “If we are all open to answer it, I would like some pretty clear guidelines if it is specific to an individual municipality that only the members of County Council from that municipality can reply.”
Kingsville Deputy Mayor Kim DeYong believes most local municipalities have one email in which all Councillors can be contacted. She said they are for the benefit of the residents who want to communicate with their representatives. At County Council, they vote on issues from all seven local municipalities.
She said she did not need a report as County Councillors have taken the training through their municipalities. The safeguard, she added, is including the Clerk and CAO.
“I don’t want to be stifled from sharing my opinion,” Deyong said, noting she would only ever speak for herself as the Warden is the only one who can speak on behalf of County Council as a whole. “I don’t think anyone here has a right to do that. I am an Elected Official. I can share my opinion. If I breach my Code of Conduct, I am sure I will be held accountable.”
She noted most County residents likely would not know all the Mayors and Deputy Mayors from the region that make up County Council, and yet those are the people they should be reaching out to if there is an issue taking place at the County-level.
Tecumseh Mayor Joe Bachetti sees this email as a way for residents to send information to County Council, with the Clerk, CAO, or Warden responding if one was needed.
Leamington Deputy Mayor Larry Verbeke liked Bachetti’s idea, but expressed concern with creating an illegal meeting.
Amherstburg Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb saw this as a tool to bring residents closer to County government. He also had concerns with back-and-forth discussions.
Lakeshore Mayor Tracey Bailey said she is “not interested in providing my opinions to residents of Amherstburg. We have teams of experts. Certainly in Lakeshore, I would be more than happy to work with our residents. I have a team of experts here at the County and a team of experts back home that I rely on. I don’t attempt to give my opinion on road rehabs or any of those things. I work with the experts at hand to provide that.”
She said she will make connections to properly serve residents.
In providing his expertise on the matter, Director of IT, Darrel Laurendeau, said to provide the community the feedback that was being looked for, and reach all County Councillors at once, in the spirit of what was proposed, made sense to him.
The form idea on the web page would be a solution he would recommend, as it would provide residents an opportunity to give feedback. They could also upload a document, which could be quarantined and scanned for viruses. It can be stored in a spot to let Councillors know a resident has provided feedback.
He did recommend a report be made to provide those types of options.
Bachetti made the amendment to the motion Bondy presented.
Having heard the IT Director explain how it could be done, Lakeshore Deputy Mayor Kirk Walstedt thought it was a waste of time to ask for the report. Councillors were either going to support it or not. He noted he was not in favour of it. Kingsville Mayor Dennis Rogers also believed a report was a waste of staff time.
Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara, Walstedt, Bailey, MacDonald, and Verbeke voted in opposition to the motion.