Fort Erie steps up dispute with economic development corporation
Fort Erie will notify the town’s Economic Development and Tourism Development Corp. it will be terminating its memorandum of agreement with the arm’s-length agency.
The decision was made at Monday’s council-in-committee meeting. Councillors wrestled with three options presented in a staff report from chief administrative officer Tom Kuchyt. They could have chosen to make changes to the agreement, enter talks with EDTC to discuss and amend the agreement or terminate it outright.
In the end, after a lengthy discussion, council elected to go with the third option, but not before adding an amendment that would allow for a consultant to be brought in to conduct a review and come up with the best model for the town to obtain economic development and tourism services.
“It gives us latitude; it gives us the ability to see what model works best,” Mayor Wayne Redekop said. “It doesn’t exclude the current model. It might very well be the model we end up with.”
Ward 4 Coun. Marina Butler was also in favour of terminating the agreement but asked that the motion be amended to include the review.
“They could consult with council,” she said.
Ward 2 Coun. Nick Dubanow, however, expressed concerns.
“I’m not opposed to a review,” he said. “I think it’s very important we look at the possible options.”
Where Dubanow runs into difficulty is with terminating the agreement.
“There are a lot of unknowns that come along with it,” he said.
That’s something Ward 3 Coun. Kim Zanko agreed with.
“I’ve struggled with this report myself,” Zanko said. “There’s no negotiation with (the termination). There are so many variables.”
Choosing the option to talk to the EDTC about amendments to the current agreement would be the best course of action, she said.
“We should offer them the opportunity to negotiate with us.”
Back in 2015, council at that time simply received the report and directed that staff engage in no further dialogue with the EDTC.
Ward 6 Coun. Ann-Marie Noyes, who has called for more transparency when it comes to the EDTC on many occasions during her previous tenure on council, supported the amended motion, noting “hopefully it would lead to better communication with the EDTC and better economic development.”
The town’s economic development initiatives have been handled by the corporation since it was created in 1992.