Not surprisingly, a substantial portion of Monday’s meeting was comprised of continued discussions about Orangeville policing. At the Police Services Board Meeting on April 18th, 2017, a consultant hired by the Police Association did a presentation to the Board that discredited the Treasurer’s financial analysis. This presentation was a sore spot for a few Council members and they spoke up on Monday about their concerns. Councillor Gail Campbell, who is a member of the Police Services Board expressed her disappointment that this presentation was done calling it “antagonistic and personally disrespectful to our Treasurer”. She also expressed concern that the Treasurer was not given the opportunity to respond to the allegations and was not even invited to participate in the meeting. She also made it clear that the Board was not made aware of the contents of this delegation and its contents prior to that Board meeting. In Councillor Campbell’s opinion, this presentation should have been made to the governing body of Council and NOT to the Police Services Board. Her opinion is that the presentation was “marred and diminished” by an attack on a senior staff member of the Town of Orangeville.
Sergeant Fry, President of the Orangeville Police Association, spoke up in defence of the consultant’s credentials and stated that the Police Association was and is concerned by the confusion that surrounds the OPP costing in the community and therefore had requested that the matter be reviewed by a subject matter expert to review the long-term implications. Sergeant Fry also stated that he hopes that Council will consider getting an independent consultant to review the costs before making a final decision on the matter at hand.
Councillor Sylvia Bradley spoke about her concerns from the presentation as well. She was concerned about his credentials as a retired police officer. She stated that she found it “disgusting” that they hired someone to discredit the Treasurer and if they had wanted to hire someone, they should have hired someone who was “competent”. Councillor Bradley also said that “They {the police} are there to serve and protect the public, the people of Orangeville. They’re not there to serve and protect their self-interests and I’m seeing that this is what’s happening here.” Councillor Bradley went on to say that a number of officers are afraid to speak out publicly to voice their concerns and desires for fear of reprisal. “I certainly hope that I will not be getting special attention now because I have spoken out.” Councillor Bradley said. She then stated that she feels that the Union now owes an apology to the Treasurer.
BDO was next up on the agenda to do their presentation which was basically confirming the accuracy of the Treasurer’s analysis based on the numbers he had available to him. One key point they did add was that they they would like to speak to OPP as they have some questions to ask.
So, where do we go from here? The public meeting is being held Thursday, April 27th from 7-9:30pm at ODSS in the cafeteria. Representatives from both OPS and OPP will be there to answer any of your questions. If you are unable to attend, you can tune in live on Rogers TV (Channel 63) and please don’t forget that you can still send you questions or comments to oppcosting@orangeville.ca and to each member of Council individually at the email addresses below:
jwilliams@orangeville.ca
wmaycock@orangeville.ca
swilson@orangeville.ca
sbradley@orangeville.ca
gcampbell@orangeville.ca
dkidd@orangeville.ca
ngaristo@orangeville.ca
sgreatrix@orangeville.ca (Town Clerk)
Please have your voices heard! Decision time is coming soon and our community is very divided on the topic.
Urban Slide
Did you have a chance to try out the Urban Slide at last years’ Founders Day? What were your thoughts? The plan this year was to pair the Urban Slide up with a beer garden and Caribbean Festival on Mill St hosted by the BIA. However, at Monday’s council meeting, Council chose to simply ‘receive’ the information and no motion was passed to go ahead with the slide this year. Concerns about cost were brought forward and when asked what the costs were to run it last year, it was minimal…Doug Jones, Director of Public Works, estimated that it cost the Town approximately $2000-$2500 to host the event.
What do you think? Should they have gone ahead with the slide again this year?
Next Meetings
The next important dates you need to be aware of are Thursday, April 27th at 7pm at ODSS for the public meeting and the next regular council meeting on Monday, May 8th at 7pm at Town Hall. And don’t forget to send you comments and questions to Council! My next blog post will review the information from Thursdays public meeting and I will post as many questions and answers as possible.