City could seek new operator after rift forms on farmers’ market board
The city could be looking for a new organization to take over the Saturday farmers’ market in 2018, as in-fighting between vendors grows increasingly bitter.
On one side are vendors who say the 192-year-old market’s traditions are being threatened by a group of farmers who want change.
On the other are vendors who say they are asking for modern business practices – and risk getting kicked out of the market if they speak up.
The city isn’t weighing in, even though the market takes place on municipally owned property at Morrow Park.
But the city’s CAO, Allan Seabrooke, has written the board of directors a letter stating the city wants to review the agreement between the market and the city in 2018.
That could involve working on a new strategic plan with the current market management, he writes. Or the city may see whether other organizations would bid to take over the market.
“I sent them a letter to put them on notice that the city will be reviewing our options with respect to the current arrangement,” Seabrooke wrote in an email to The Examiner.
John Dunn, a local lawyer, represents seven vendors who are advocating for new business practices at the market (such as professional audits, for example, and the hiring of a full-time market manager instead of the current part-timer).
Dunn wrote in a letter to the market’s board of directors that there are “serious deficiencies” in the way the market is governed, and they ought to make “radical changes” to their business practices if they want to keep running the market. In a document he sent to The
Examiner, Dunn wrote that his clients include Gaelic Garlic, Circle Organic, McLean Berry Farm, World’s Finest Fudge and Small Spade Gardening.
He also represents chef Marshall Eckler, as well as Sax Francisco (of Sax and the Eclectic Tea Cup).
Dunn said those who don’t want change are vendors who don’t grow their produce – they sell food they’ve bought and trucked in from the food terminal (they’re sometimes called “truckers”).
Dunn’s clients are local growers, he said – and every time they speak up, the truckers threaten to kick them out of the market for good.
One client – Circle Organic, a farm in Millbrook – received a letter from the Peterborough and District Farmers’ Market Association in December stating that the farmer, Andrew Flaman, wasn’t allowed back on market premises.
If he returned, said the letter, he’d be trespassing and police would be called.
There was no reason given for the notice, and a subsequent letter revoked Circle Organic’s vendor privileges. (Flaman couldn’t be reached for comment, on Tuesday.)
But then Dunn wrote a letter to the board of directors on behalf of Circle Organics, threatening to sue. Vendor privileges were promptly reinstated to the farm.
Dunn said he knows of at least two other vendors who couldn’t afford a lawyer – and they were turfed.
“Basically they (directors) attempted to stifle debate – and operate as a dictatorship,” Dunn said.
A new board was elected on Monday, at the market’s annual general meeting.
Late last year, Sam McLean of McLean Berry Farms stepped down as president (he didn’t wish to comment, for this article).
The new board members’ names haven’t been published online yet, and the AGM was closed to the public on Monday.
Joe Grant is a local lawyer representing the farmers’ market corporation as a whole.
He said Flaman of Circle Organics is a “well-known and integral member of the market” and that any disagreement between him and the board has been settled. “They worked it out,” he said. Yet Dunn’s clients wanted to put forward several motions at Monday’s AGM – and they were refused the chance.
One of the motions was to replace the current part-time market manager with a full-time manager.
But the motion essentially calls for the dismissal of the current part-time manager, Grant points out.
The organization’s bylaws state that motions must been circulated to vendors in February in order to be discussed at the AGM in April.
Dunn’s clients circulated their motions to vendors by email on Friday night, prior to the meeting on Monday.
Grant also points out that Seabrooke has suggested the current organization prepare a strategic plan. That’s a good idea for any organization, he said.
“I see that as a very positive thing,” Grant said. “The city wants to move the market forward.”