What should have been a simple passing of a motion turned into a heated spat over confidentiality between Ward 1 councillors David Campbell and Whitney Smith at Monday afternoon's Orillia city council meeting.
Campbell was unable to attend last Wednesday's special meeting of council when the mayor and councillors met for 2.5 hours in closed session with legal counsel from WeirFoulds LLP. The meeting was called to talk about the recently granted strong mayor powers and the use of them by Orillia Mayor Don McIsaac.
A motion to receive the report from that meeting was what prompted Campbell to speak.
He sought council's support to amend the motion so that video of the meeting would be sent to all members of council.
McIsaac immediately turned to clerk Dan Kirby, asking him if this request was in order.
"This amendment from the absentee is in order," Kirby said.
Coun. Whitney Smith asked if there was a way for Campbell to view the video at city hall so that a link would not be shared due to the confidentiality of the closed-door meeting
"Obviously, this is a confidential document. We handle confidential documents weekly," responded Campbell.
"I don't need a copy," McIsaac said.
Campbell reiterated the link would only go to members of council, stressing that councillors deal with sensitive documents regularly.
Smith countered: "It's because of the confidential nature that I am concerned that there will be a breach of confidentiality that I believe I've seen before."
Campbell immediately asked for a point of order.
"The comment made by Coun. Smith was entirely inappropriate and I believe an apology to council is in order," he said.
When asked by McIsaac what his concern was, Campbell said it was the insinuation that members of council have breached confidentiality in the past.
"It's a point of fact," said McIsaac, without providing further elaboration.
Campbell said the comment was "disrespectful to every member of this council and I think an apology is in order."
Smith said she believes there has been a breach of confidentiality, but she didn't spell it out, and for that reason, she did not offer an apology.
Kirby called for a recess. During the recess, Kirby spoke to McIsaac, alone, and later to Smith, also individually.
When they returned to the table, Smith said: "I will withdraw the comment."
Campbell asked for a full apology rather than a withdrawal of the comment.
"That was a serious accusation to every member of this council," he said.
McIsaac then called for a vote on the amendment.
Coun. Jay Fallis interrupted and asked if McIsaac wanted to give Coun. Smith a chance to apologize and McIsaac said, "The matter has been dealt with."
The motion as amended was carried which means that councillors will be sent the video link electronically; the report from the closed meeting was received for information. As part of that motion, council agreed to make public that WeirFoulds is the legal firm involved.
Six members of council had originally petitioned for a special meeting of council due to the fact that McIsaac used his strong mayor powers shortly after receiving them to grapple with challenges associated with the ice storm to instead rescind the council-approved hiring of CAO Trevor Lee. He then appointed Amanpreet Singh Sidhu to the position; he had been the city's deputy CAO/solicitor before the appointment.
The April 15 special meeting was an exercise in frustration, as no outside legal counsel was available for the meeting.
Sidhu has not attended a council meeting since being appointed to the CAO position on April 7.
When asked by OrilliaMatters why the CAO was not in attendance, McIsaac said it is not mandatory for the CAO to attend council meetings. Prior to this strong mayor debate, Singh was regularly in attendance at all council meetings and his advice/counsel was often sought during debates.
