NOTL mayor apologizes for rowdy meeting

The fallout from last week’s Niagara-on-the-Lake council meeting, which included jeering and shouting at some speakers, has led to a letter of apology being issued by Lord Mayor Pat Darte for not doing a better job of keeping decorum.

Following the meeting, which included a discussion and vote on the contentious Randwood Estate hotel development on John Street, Darte described some audience members as disrespectful and coming close to bullying, and said he felt if he tried to control them he might have made the situation worse. But in a letter posted on the town’s website late last week, he apologized for not acting as quickly or strongly as he should have.

“As chair of the meeting, I should have had better control of the audience,” he wrote.

Council and town staff have also received criticism for an agenda which had two lengthy presentations, unrelated to the Randwood discussion, at the start of the meeting.

In addition to the frustration of waiting almost two hours for a council decision about which many felt passionately, and a poorly performing sound system, many people in attendance had arrived at the community centre early and some had been standing the whole time, said Duff Roman, who wrote to the mayor and council objecting to blame for “untoward” behaviour being laid at the feet of SORE (Save Our Randwood Estate), a group opposed to the development as proposed. “Please rest assured that SORE did not arrange, and does not condone, the objectionable behaviour,” he wrote in his letter. “We have deliberately and consciously attempted to approach the Marotta group’s proposals objectively and civilly at all times.”

People opposing the hotel development on a historic piece of property in the Old Town were also frustrated by a decision in March when council deferred, without discussion, a vote on the town’s heritage committee recommendations. The deferral was presented as an opportunity to give SORE representatives time to meet with developer Benny Marotta of Two Sisters Resorts to sort out differences. Roman says SORE did not ask for a meeting, and would have preferred that council had moved forward on the heritage committee recommendations.

He said most of the April 16 meeting was civil and constructive, and the negative comments about the behaviour of a few overshadowed the positive outcome — unanimous approval of the municipal heritage committee recommendations, and amendments by Coun. Betty Disero.

Roman said the heritage supporters feel passionately about preserving the integrity of the John Street estate, and although there is a core group of professional people who bring expertise, he said SORE does not have a membership as such..

Darte’s apology was directed at speakers from the meeting who made presentationson other unrelated issues, and to Coun. Maria Bau-Coote.