No word from clerk on special meeting
Niagara Region’s clerk has yet to schedule a special council meeting this week, despite a petition signed by the majority of councillors calling for one.
The petition, developed by St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik and signed by 18 of the Region’s 31 councillors, was sent to clerk Ann-Marie Norio on Sunday. It calls for a special council meeting to be held this week on or before Thursday to discuss the hiring of the Region’s chief administrative officer Carmen D’Angelo in 2016.
And although Norio had yet to schedule the meeting on Monday, her department is required to do so by both Niagara Region’s bylaws and provincial law.
Section 240 of the Ontario Municipal Act, for instance, says, “upon receipt of a petition of the majority of the members of council, the clerk shall call a special meeting for the purpose and at the time mentioned in the petition.”
Sendzik said as of 6 p.m. Monday, the clerk’s department hadn’t contacted councillors to determine their availability.
“I’m disappointed that the clerk hasn’t organized the meeting yet. I would have expected that by now the clerk would have sent out a meeting request. I’m disappointed that the clerk’s office hasn’t acted as quickly,” he said. “I’m very concerned about that because hopefully there’s no undue influence being applied to the clerk on this.”
Sendzik told CKTB 610 AM radio Monday morning that regional Chair Alan Caslin should recuse himself during the special meeting, because his office has been implicated in the reports.
But Caslin might not be present at the meeting, at all.
In a text message to The Standard, Caslin said: “Haven’t heard of a meeting being called by the clerk’s office.”
“I’ll be out of the country this week on a trip that I have had planned since June,” he added.
Although St. Catharines Coun. Kelly Edgar said the meeting needs to proceed in Caslin’s absence, if necessary.
“There is no choice according to our bylaws,” he said. “If a petition signed by the majority of council is received by the clerk calling for a meeting … the clerk has to respond with a meeting,” he said.
Caslin’s attendance “is not required,” he added.
Welland Coun. George Marshall said councillors have been bombarded with comments and concerns from Niagara residents regarding the CAO hiring issue.
“It is a crisis in the Region,” Marshall said.
Welland Coun. Paul Grenier, who did add his name to the meeting petition, said other councillors would have signed too, but were not given an opportunity.
“The inference is that some of these people might have refused, and that’s not the case,” he said.
Grenier said he hopes to avoid any arguments regarding procedure related to calling of the meeting.
“I’m hoping we get around that and don’t focus on procedural stuff” which could prevent council from “doing what’s necessary to have a frank conversation about some of the issues that were raised,” he said.
“I’m hoping it doesn’t descend into procedural wrangling about the validity of the meeting.”