Special Meeting Of Council – Strong Mayor Powers
By John Swartz
Orillia council has a special meeting April 23 at 2 p.m. This is the rescheduled, with a twist, meeting of April 15 when council had hoped to roll back strong mayor powers granted by the province to the city on April 2.
Six councillors (Durnford, Fallis, Lauer, Campbell, Leatherdale and Czetwerzuk) had petitioned to have the April 15 meeting. In the agenda of the 23rd it says, ”The meeting called pursuant to Section 22.4.12 of the Procedure By-law and circulated under cover of a Council Information Package memorandum dated April 11, 2025, has been cancelled at the request of the petitioners.”
That is because the April 15 meeting ended in adjournment with the expectation it would continue at a later date with the legal counsel in attendance, and as Durnford asked the provision for livestreaming of the meeting and a public forum. Cipolla also asked for the meeting to be held at 7 p.m. to allow for people to attend the meeting.
As it stands, none of those conditions are happening; the agenda does not list a public forum and it is not at 7 p.m.
As for livestreaming, the agenda states: “The meeting may be livestreamed on the City of Orillia’s YouTube channel.” However, at the time of writing, there is no stream set up on the City’s Youtube Channel.
The meeting on the 23rd is not a continuation of the previous and the agenda states, “For the avoidance of doubt, this meeting was called by the Mayor for the purpose identified.’ Which is to say, the granting of strong mayor powers to the City.
At the earlier meeting, Durnford moved to add to items to the agenda. One for the mayor to allow staff to draft the annual budget (under the new powers the mayor makes the budget) and continue with the budget process as has been in the past; and to delegate some powers back to council.
The discussion quickly devolved to whether the agenda could be added to, and subsequently the reason for the meeting being called in the first place, and then discussion to postpone.
By cancelling retroactively the April 15 meeting all that discussion goes by the wayside It is significant that this meeting on the 23rd is, with the same agenda as the 15th minus the petition, being called by the mayor.
What is interesting is the powers were used to revoke the appointment of Trevor Lee as CAO, and instead appointing Amanpreet Singh Sidhu. This occurred April 7, but was not known to council at the time of their regular meeting on the 7th. The decision was posted April 8 (it is required decisions a mayor makes be publicly posted).
Since then three more decisions have been posted. On April 4 a decision relating to a personnel matter was made (but not posted until April 16). The noticed was marked confidential and no details were included.
A notice was posted April 16, dated April 15, the mayor did not intend to veto by-laws enacted at a second special meeting held April 15 regarding expenses from the ice storm. On April 17 a decision to delegate the powers of CAO relating to organizational structure back to the CAO was made (which under the municipal act revisions creating the strong mayor concept, the powers of a CAO were transferred to the mayor), but some CAO powers were also reserved by the mayor, including hiring/dismissal powers. That was not posted until April 21.
The act specifically states any decisions must be publicly posted and circulated to council the next business day, which appears to not have been the case with the April 4 decision.
The meeting of the 23rd will almost immediately go into closed session to discuss: “Legal Opinion of External Legal Counsel.” It is required under the municipal act to hold meetings related to – personal, personnel, legal, statutory body and educational/training – in private.
It is difficult to say what exactly will be discussed in public. It is likely councillors will petition for another special meeting, with provision for a public forum and specific items to discuss (instead of just legal counsel opinions -which may just end up back in closed session)
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia)
