Council endorses plan for NPCA representatives
It didn’t take St. Catharines councillors long to endorse a motion calling for municipally appointed representatives to the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority board.
The motion — passed without any debate Monday night — was the seventh that city council has passed directly relating to NPCA since December 2016.
“I believe this council can take some pride in having taken a number of stances on this issue and trying to get the conservation authority to work towards becoming more responsible,” said Port Dalhousie Coun. Bruce Williamson, who asked council to support the motion passed by Welland council last week.
“I think endorsement of this motion is another step towards reaching that goal. Enough said, Mr. Mayor.”
Welland councillors adopted the motion by Mayor Frank Campion on Feb. 6 in a move towards appointing non-regional councillors to the NPCA board.
The Welland motion said that NPCA and the Region are two distinct and separate entities but the composition of members “potentially blurs the line” separating the two. That’s because most of the regional representatives on the NPCA board are regional councillors.
Welland’s motion said that makeup can potentially create a conflict in relation to governance and budgeting.
Welland councillors directed staff to prepare reports, policies and bylaws to establish a process for implementing a municipal ly appointed NPCA representative. The process would allow members of the public to be considered and would exclude the appointment of regional councillors.
The motion was distributed to all Niagara municipalities for consideration and support.
St. Catharines endorsed the motion 10-1, with St. George’s Coun. Mike Britton the lone holdout.
City councillors passed a similar motion in March 2017 asking for an overhaul of the way members are appointed to NPCA’s board.
That motion, originally made by Pelham town council, asked for citizen appointments on the board with expertise in environmental and conservation issues.
It was one of many moves by St. Catharines council in relation to the troubled body.
On Dec. 18, councillors called on Ontario’s premier to immediately appoint a supervisor to take over NPCA, supporting a move by Port Colborne.
It asked the NPCA board to disclose the total amount spent on lawsuits against St. Catharines resident Ed Smith on Dec. 11.
On March 20, council asked that the city’s annual $1.7-million contribution to NPCA be withheld until NPCA accepted the Ontario auditor general’s offer to audit the authority.
Prior to that on Jan. 16, it asked all Niagara politicians sitting on the NPCA board to launch a thirdparty investigation into the organization. Its first motion was in December 2016 asking the province to step in and audit NPCA.
NPCA is currently undergoing an audit by Ontario’s auditor general. The move came after the allparty provincial public accounts committee passed a motion in October by Welland NDP MPP Cindy Forster asking for the audit.
At an NPCA meeting last month, a Hamilton member of the board said Niagara’s municipal councils need to “stop kicking the dead horse” with respect to management of the conservation authority. Member Stewart Beattie said the motions coming out of Niagara councils were like somebody “picking at the back my ear.”
Hamilton city council subsequently also supported Niagara’s calls for an audit.