Potential projects up for discussion at budget meeting

A budget meeting at Fort Erie town hall on Wednesday night ended in a heated debate about whether local officials can speak publicly about projects that have only been previously discussed in closed session.

During Fort Erie Economic Development and Tourism Corpo. (EDTC) general manager Jim Thibert’s presentation to council, he highlighted many ongoing and potential projects around town.

One of them is SMARTlabs, a campus in Fort Erie being considered by University College Dublin, a possible development that wasn’t introduced to the general public until Thibert’s presentation.

Council doesn’t vote on the EDTC’s $730,000 grant request for 2018 until the consolidated operating budget is considered on Jan. 24.

The international campus, which Thibert says will be for people pursuing a PhD, is something Ward 5 Coun. Don Lubberts said shouldn’t have been brought up at the public budget-in-committee meeting on Wednesday night.

“Everything we’ve discussed in closed session is supposed to be confidential,” said Lubberts, the councillor for the Crystal Beach area of Fort Erie.

In the report to council, the campus is mentioned through a $40,000 request for a study to be conducted on the partnership – an independent overview and objective assessment to be done by Deloitte.

Town of Fort Erie chief administrative officer Tom Kuchyt says he has no problem with the project being named in the EDTC’s presentation.

“From what I can see in this report the EDTC has provided, it’s very vague information,” he said during the meeting.

He also said it doesn’t delve into the “particulars” of the possible development.

“I don’t see this being an issue – it’s very preliminary information with no great detail,” said Kuchyt.

Lubberts wasn’t satisfied with this answer, saying that because the potential development was brought up at the meeting, saying that every bit of information councillors have received behind closed doors is now public information.

“It doesn’t qualify for closed session if you’ve talked about it in public,” said Lubberts.

Mayor Wayne Redekop responded to Lubberts’ claim with a point of order and advised Lubberts to make a motion to go in-camera, a suggestion he didn’t take.

The mayor agreed the public will now be aware of the SMARTlabs effort being on council’s radar, but nothing more.

“All the other information we have with respect to this – that’s still confidential,” said Redekop.

Before the discussion about closed session protocol, council heard a presentation from Thibert about some of the ongoing and future projects being worked on around Greater Fort Erie.

A long-awaited marijuana processing factory on Jarvis Street, Cannacure, has received its federal licence and is making progress, according to the EDTC general manager.

Thibert says this project could create 125 jobs in Fort Erie and that it will be a facility that processes marijuana into edible forms.

Cannacure has acquired 3.4 million square feet of growing space in Leamington, Ont., according to Thibert.

He encouraged the local government to continue urging the importance of the marina project on the Niagara Parkway in the political realm, saying it has the potential to bring in 1,600 jobs.

For a number of years, Thibert has said there is a shortage of skilled labourers in Greater Fort Erie and that jobs are available – but not enough qualified people to fill them.

At Wednesday’s meeting, he said this has not changed.

“We need more employees – we need more people who want to work,” said Thibert, referring to Fort Erie’s steady aerospace industry as a place to start.

“Anyone who says Fort Erie is a destitute place is just wrong,” he said.

Council also heard a presentation and received a report from the Fort Erie Public Library about its $1.5 million base budget at the same meeting.