Tiny mayor, deputy mayor at odds over communications proposal

By Kate Harries AWARE Simcoe April 2 2012
Tiny Mayor Ray Millar says it would be a good idea for the township to hire a communications consultant to assist in dealing with the public’s concerns over a legal matter.
The township could benefit from advice on how best to communicate its message, he said in an interview.

“When people start to speak off the cuff when it’s a legal matter, it’s fraught with difficulty.”
A letter from a consultant who’s interested in the job led to a heated discussion at Tiny’s March 26 meeting, with Deputy Mayor George Lawrence demanding that it be taken off the in-camera agenda and aired in open session.
AWARE Simcoe had learned that the legal matter in question is the township’s appeal of a recent court ruling on shoreline ownership relating to a Woodland Beach subdivision.
Millar argued the letter should not be made public because it provided information about the scope of work and cost that could be prejudicial to the proponent.
Lawrence said in an interview that he doesn’t believe that public relations is an appropriate item for in-camera discussion.
“The public has the right to know,” Lawrence said, adding, “we hadn’t discussed anything about communications people before this and all of a sudden it’s in camera.”
He said it’s inappropriate for just one consultant to be asked for a proposal. “We have a procedural bylaw and anything over $5,000, we tender it out.”
And, he noted, councillors have been told not to make any public statement on the legal matter, so he doesn’t know what the consultant could say on council’s behalf.
The debate is reminiscent of the uproar that ensued when it was discovered that Simcoe County Council had gone behind closed doors to hire a public relations firm at the height of the Dump Site 41 battle in 2009. At that time, leading members of council  argued that communications about a legal matter could be construed as a legal matter, thus falling under Section 239 of the Municipal Act – a view that was rejected by Site 41 opponents who countered that the purpose of the $200,000 expenditure was to make  the politicians look good, and not a legal issue at all.
In this case, Millar agreed that the policy discussion – on whether or not to hire a PR consultant, as opposed to the specifics of who to hire – should take place in a public forum.
“There’s nothing preventing that from happening,” he said. However he expressed doubt that it would happen as any motion to bring the idea forward would get voted down by Lawrence and Councillors Andre Claire and Nigel Warren, who make up the majority on council.