Region still messing with Pelham, says Port Colborne council
Lakeside city sending letter to Thorold HQ
Port Colborne city council is again sending a disapproving letter to regional council over another resolution regarding the Town of Pelham and its finances.
A document sent from the Region containing its resolution supporting a petition to Queen’s Park started by Pelham residents and ratepayers came up at Port Colborne’s Monday night council meeting, and councillors were not happy.
“To me, I just see that as interference once again,” said Ward 4 Coun. Barb Butters in an interview Wednesday.
During past meetings she has referred to the Region’s persistence with Pelham as a “witch hunt” and feels that supporting this petition is just a new way for the Region to continue that pursuit.
Ward 2 Coun. Yvon Doucet said he sees this new resolution as the Region playing semantics — it’s just rewording the old motion to get what they want.
The Region’s resolution and an excerpt of the petition are available online in Port Colborne’s council package dated Feb. 26.
Areported 213 petitioners are requesting that the minister of municipal affairs enact a portion of the Municipal Affairs Act, namely to have a provincial financial audit on Pelham’s finances. Although Pelham has stated previously that a financial audit done by third- party auditor
KPGM has cleared the town of any wrongdoing, some residents still aren’t convinced.
The petition cites concerns over issues such as town spending on large developments and comments made by former Pelham town councillor Marvin Junkin.
The petition states “the undersigned residents of the Town of Pelham no longer trust the town council of the Town of Pelham to sell public- owned lands and to provide accurate financial information to the residents.”
Doucet said, “They have a right to do the petition. They have a right to go for it. I have no problem with any of that, but the process is important.”
He said residents should be taking the issue to their councillors and municipality first, not jumping to the regional level. He feels the Region shouldn’t be involved at all and the residents could have sent the petition themselves.
The Region’s correspondence indicates its resolution and the petition will be circulated to the minister of municipal affairs, Premier Kathleen Wynne, local MPPs and other local municipalities.
In response, Port Colborne council unanimously decided to send a letter to notify Regional council that Port Colborne is “strongly opposed” to this newest resolution.
The letter will also be circulated to local municipalities, local MPPs, the office of the Ontario Ombudsman and the auditor general.
This motion echoes one made late last year after the Region circulated a motion about the Town of Pelham that indicated it wanted access to the full audit report and was going to notify relevant lenders of Pelham’s situation. The motion was also sent to other parties such as the Ontario Ombudsman and local MPPs. Port Colborne opposed that motion as well and sent out the letter. Other municipalities followed suit supporting Pelham as well.
Buters said she’s not confident the Region will be responsive to the letter, but said, “If they want to be persistent, so can we.”