Working with a short bench, Springwater Township council moved through Wednesday night’s meeting in rapid succession.
In less than 40 minutes, council — without Mayor Jennifer Coughlin and Councillors Danielle Alexander and Anita Moore — was in and out of chambers with barely a word of conflict or debate.
Barely.
Only one item, the final report from the Ontario Ombudsman regarding a closed meeting investigation, merited discussion, however brief it may have been.
Coun. Brad Thompson said he contacted the ombudsman, who told him that all of the items that were discussed at a special meeting of council on May 3, 2023 could have been discussed in open session.
The fact that they weren’t, Thompson said, was a major misstep of council.
“Over the past year and a half, on this council, there has been a lot of talk about openness and transparency,” Thompson said. “I think on this occasion it would have benefited our public, the voters and our taxpayers to have been able to be part of this process, to see how we voted and to see what comments we made in these closed meetings.
“We really missed an opportunity,” he added.
Coun. Phil Fisher disagreed. He said he read the report and was quite happy with its conclusion.
“Maybe I interpreted it differently. It seemed to exonerate this council from talking about those subjects within closed session,” Fisher said. “I actually disagree, Coun. Thompson. I think we were well within our rights to discuss those topics and I think the ombudsman actually confirms that.”
Fisher invited the public to read the report for themselves.
Coun. Matt Garwood echoed Thompson’s sentiments.
“While the report clearly states that this council did not contravene the Municipal Act in regards to having the discussion, it doesn’t mean we should have had the discussion,” he said. “Just because there is a line doesn’t mean we should go right to it.”
The meeting that is the subject of the ombudsman’s report was a special council meeting that was held at 3 p.m. and was requested by petition from Deputy Mayor George Cabral and Councillors Alexander, Moore and Fisher.
There were two other council meetings on that day — a presentation from the Ontario Provincial Police at 5 p.m. and the regularly scheduled council meeting that followed at 6:30 p.m.
The open-session agenda for the 3 p.m. meeting indicated that, as requested by petition, council would discuss a rainbow crosswalk project and a drag story-time event hosted by the Springwater Public Library in open session, before discussing three items in closed session:
- Employment matters — Springwater Public Library (identifiable individual)
- Hiring — economic development assistant (labour relations or employee negotiations)
- Rainbow crosswalk project — irregularities (identifiable individual and labour relations and employee negotiations)
In open session, council discussed perceived irregularities related to a rainbow crosswalk project, including different understandings of what financial responsibility a local high school would have, and directed staff to prepare a report on this subject.
Council then discussed an event arranged by the Springwater Public Library, at which a drag queen would read children’s stories to an audience.
Fisher kicked off the discussion.
“Before I start today, I’d like the public to know that the management of the Springwater library were requested to meet with council today to be transparent on matters pertaining directly to the taxpayer-funded institution they manage,” he said. “They have decided to decline that request.
“It has come to the surprise of many residents that the library operates separately from Springwater council,” Fisher added. “Other than some financial budgetary oversight, they act autonomously.’
According to the Public Libraries Act (PLA) of Ontario, a copy of which was given to each councillor when they started their term, Thompson said, a public library is an independent entity under the management and control of a board.
A library reports to its board, not the municipality, so it has no obligation to appear before a council or provide specifics on how it spends its funds.
Fisher then railed about a program called Drag Queen Storytime, a program that was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID pandemic.
“For those councillors who have shown they condone this in our community, I want you to know you are not representing the majority of the taxpayers and you have let virtue signalling take the place of stable governance,” Fisher said.
Virtue signalling is described as the public expression of opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or social conscience or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue.
“I know I speak for many residents who want their tax dollars funding a library that champions literacy and learning,” Fisher said. “Let’s turn the library back into the institution it was meant to be."
While Fisher’s opinion of what a library should champion may be welcome to some, it’s another place where it’s hands off for politicians.
According to the PLA, “a board shall appoint a chief executive officer who shall have general supervision over and direction of the operations of the public library and its staff.”
At one point in the discussion, Thompson asked Jeff Schmidt, Springwater's chief administrative officer, if council was breaking any rules talking about the library.
“I would suggest, because council does appoint the library board, the members of the board, there could be conversation as it relates to that,” Schmidt said. “As it relates to dictating what the library does, programming and such, (it's) not your prerogative.”
Council was forced to wrap up this portion as the 5 p.m. special session of council with the OPP was about to begin. Council returned back to closed session following the end of its regularly scheduled council meeting at 7:59 p.m.
According to the ombudsman’s report, council continued to discuss the high school representative’s actions and then it discussed the economic development assistant item. Lastly, they returned to discussing the Springwater Public Library.
Some council members shared their concerns about the conduct of a specific individual in relation to the drag-queen story-time event, which had previously been discussed in open session.
Council also raised questions about the transparency obligations of the Springwater Public Library Board and whether it had a code of conduct.
After a question was raised about the township’s ability to dissolve the library board, a councillor suggested that that line of questioning did not relate to an identifiable individual, and asked whether such a discussion should be held in open session.
Council returned to open session at 9:21 p.m.
