Quinte West City Council approved a motion from Councillor Karen Sharpe calling for more transparency when strong mayor powers are used.
The motion calls on the city clerk, Josh Machesney, to add all decisions made under strong mayor powers to the council meeting agenda following when a decision is made.
It also adds that council “respectfully requests” that the mayor maintain the spirit of council governance by consulting with council before issuing a decision under strong mayor powers.
Speaking to her notice of motion, Councillor Sharpe said the reason she was bringing it forward was due to a recent decision under the strong mayor powers to remove Councillor Shelley Stedall as the chair of the City of Quinte West’s Personnel Committee, with the role going to Councillor Jim Alyea.
“There was no explanation for this, and I’m just hoping, by putting this motion forward that they’ll be on the agenda for discussion or consultation, and that when you exercise these powers, which you have the right to do, that they’re certainly on our agenda so the public know,” Sharpe explained.
“Right now you can exercise them and they’re put on the website, but if people don’t know, and residents don’t know, and council doesn’t know, then we don’t have that discussion.”
Councillor Egerton Boyce gave his thoughts on the decision.
“Personally, I believe she’s done an excellent job on all the things that we’ve done on that committee,” Boyce said.
“I have no criticisms of what’s happening and I would ask you to continue with your belief in the democracy of this council by allowing us as a council to make that decision whether an individual should be removed.”
Mayor Jim Harrison explained his reasoning for the removal, saying that the decision was made based on “the integrity and policies of the City of Quinte West.”
“In other words, I’m not in favor of having the CAO of Stirling-Rawden write an evaluation for the CAO of Quinte West,” Mayor Harrison said.
“So that’s why I made that decision, and Councillor Stedall knew that’s how I felt from the very beginning.”
Councillor Boyce countered that by saying it was not the authority of anyone on council to determine if another member has a conflict, and that determining a conflict of interest should come from the Integrity Commissioner.
Councillor Shelley Stedall spoke on her removal, saying she thoroughly enjoyed the role and that her background in municipal politics had been known when she was elected.
She says she did not have a conflict.
“The conversation that happened when I was given notification of this came from the clerk, not from the mayor. The mayor has not spoken to me since the moment that he has written this declaration. He hasn’t spoken to me about it. He has not given me a reason for it,” Stedall said.
“The explanation given saying that I have a conflict is inappropriate. I have a legal opinion to indicate that I do not have a conflict and if you do have a conflict, or think that I have a conflict, then you want to take it up with the Integrity Commissioner.”
Stedall was critical of Mayor Harrison, saying it was not appropriate to use the strong mayor powers in this decision.
“My concern is that these strong mayor powers can be used for anything, that you have the ability to use them for anything you want. I believe that there can be some serious repercussions with the city in the fact that you do this and you don’t even acknowledge the fact that you haven’t even spoken to somebody that you’ve used the strong mayor powers against.”
The motion was approved in a unanimous recorded vote, including from Mayor Harrison.
