VARNA – The Municipality of Bluewater presented its responses to a petition from about 640 residents July 19, an exercise that stretched well over an hour and met with mixed reviews.

As previously reported, a petition was presented to council in early June, requesting a public meeting to answer questions related to a number of areas of concern, including:

o general accountability and transparency;
o legal and consulting fees paid from tax revenues;
o municipal hiring policies and the overall basis and appropriateness of the existing municipal employee salary grid;
o the level of official attention being given to establishing a proactive capital, equipment, infrastructure and waste management strategy; and
o a cost-benefit analysis related to the municipality's employment of certain staff-level positions, such as a full-time bylaw enforcement officer and full-time planning co-ordinator.

Council's first step was not not to have a full public meeting, choosing instead to present structured responses to the five areas listed above during the July 19 council meeting.

Though council meetings are open to the public and the July 19 meeting was attended by about 100 people, members of the public could only comment or ask questions about the petition response or other items on the meeting agenda toward the end of the proceedings.

The municipality's July 19 response consisted largely of a presentation from Bluewater chief administrative officer Lori Wolfe that lasted about 80 minutes and was based on a 12-page document sent out to petitioners at council's request.

Two members of the public spoke to the municipality's response during a question-and-answer session, one of them being former Huron-Bruce MP Paul Steckle, who presented the petition to council at its June 7 meeting.

Steckle criticized the proceedings and told reporters afterward the responses did not satisfy any of the petition group's concerns.

"We're not interested in that kind of long verbiage, because basically most of that came out of a textbook," Steckle said in an interview. "We know where it came from. We're addressing the public getting together in a meeting that is solely conducted for the purpose of listening to the public, ask questions about matters which they have concern."

In a letter to council read during the July 19 meeting, Steckle said he made clear when presenting the petition June 7 that the sample questions given in the petition were just that, and "were not intended to be absolute, or to limit the discussions."

The letter rejects the notion of the July 19 meeting and suggests the 12-page response document is "totally inadequate, as it fails to effectively address the heart of the matters raised by the petitioners."

The only other member of the public to address council about its petition response at the July 19 meeting was Bev Hill, a Varna-area resident.

Hill said he felt the questions raised in the petition were answered well, and suggested the municipality does not have a problem with communication, as Deputy Mayor Dave Johnston said might be the case earlier in the meeting.

Hill said his biggest issue is fiscal accountability, raising concern about operating costs and bylaw enforcement.

He suggested if the municipality has an inability to enforce its bylaws, perhaps it should have fewer bylaws.

As a solution, Hill suggested a bylaw book with a fixed number of pages, and suggested before a new bylaw is created, an older one be taken out of the book.

Hill reiterated later in his remarks that he felt the issues presented in the petition were adequately addressed.

Steckle said Friday the petition group still seeks a full public meeting, and Dowson said in a separate interview it's his wish to call such a meeting if the petitioners still want one.

At press time a meeting date had not been set, though Dowson said he spoke to two members of the petition group who were to get back to him on the matter.

He said he told them if a full public meeting is called, it likely couldn’t work until late August.

Petition response highlights

Highlights from the document that formed the basis of the July 19 presentation include:

General accountability and transparency
o The document states council makes decisions on a wide range of issues, but before it can be accountable and report to its ratepayers, it must be accountable and report to upper levels of government, particularly the Province of Ontario;
o Defines accountability as "the principle that the municipality will be responsible to the public for decisions made and policies implemented, as well as its actions or inactions";
o Defines transparency to the public as: "the principle that the municipality’s decision making process is open, clear and understandable to the public";
o The document states the municipality provides "reasonable access to records and information within legal limitations and actively seeks to ensure such records and information are available on the municipal website";
o Council meetings are open to the public and delegations are welcome;
o The municipal website has been "revamped and utilized to store documents, reports, materials and other public information."

Legal and consulting fees paid from tax revenues
o The document states legal and consulting fees "are not excessive," and are not all paid from tax revenues;
o Document states the municipality is a corporation and employer subject to labour laws and safety legislation, and legal issues "must be dealt with on an ongoing basis to protect the public interest";
oDocument states it would be "negligent to allow unqualified staff to perform legal work and legal opinion given the environment where the taxpayer suffers legal consequence for fear of seeking legal opinion."

Hiring policies and the  employee salary grid
o According to the document, the existing salary grid was developed in 2005 by the firm McDowell & Associates;
o According to the document, a 2005 operational review by McDowell & Associates recommended a chief administrative officer position, which "is rated several categories higher than (the) previous clerk administrator due to academic and experience requirements, corporate leadership and management responsibilities, etc."
o According to the document, provincial reporting shows the CAO’s salary is commensurate with other CAOs of similar-sized municipalities.

Capital, equipment, infrastructure and waste management strategy
o The document states states the Mid-Huron Landfill has been due to close in 2010 for several years, and in 2007 the CAO requested council to move forward to plan for 2010;
o The document cites a series of infrastructure projects, including the Bayfield water tower and water distribution system, a facilities review, the Exeter-Hensall water pipeline and planned Grand Bend Sewage Treatment Plant expansion.
 Bylaw enforcement officer and full-time planning co-ordinator
o The document states the municipality had in the past received continuous complaints about its inability to enforce bylaws, and the previous contracted staff was unable to meet the volume and workload in the minimal hours allotted;
o Document states the planning co-ordinator (also referred to as the "planning assistant") position has been in place since 2003 but the job title has been changed to reflect additional duties.
o Document states there was no change in the position’s location on the salary grid or the hours of the position.

The full document can be found as part of the July 19 council meeting agenda at http://town.bluewater.on.ca