Harry Hughes’s conflict of interest is no more

By Patrick Bales, The Orillia Packet & Times

Harry Hughes knew he was in a “no-win” situation when he had to declare a conflict of interest regarding decisions on the future of Burl’s Creek Event Grounds.

“It’s sort of one of these situations where you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” the Oro-Medonte Township mayor said in an interview Tuesday afternoon.

Hughes declared the conflict on the file about a year ago, as his grandson, who has lived in Hughes’s house since he was a child, continued his employment at the Barrie Automotive Flea Market, held at Burl’s Creek grounds biannually.

However, that conflict is no longer an issue. Hughes will now be able to take an active role on the Burl’s Creek file where he hasn’t been able to in the past, as his grandson has obtained steady employment elsewhere.

Under the new ownership of Burl’s Creek, the flea market was moved from its traditional location, at least partially onto land that was included in the area needing rezoning on a temporary basis, Hughes said. If it had stayed on its original site or if an agreement between the previous owner and current owner of the park hadn’t been struck, no declaration would have been necessary.

Residents on both sides of the Burl’s Creek battle were critical of the mayor’s declaration of a conflict, something Hughes said he can’t control. He maintains the conflict-of-interest laws in the province clearly indicated he needed to step aside in order to remove any perception of bias.

“The choice that I really had, when declaring a conflict of interest, was to comply with the law or not comply with the law,” Hughes said. “I understand that people have difficulty, maybe, understanding how the law would be such that someone would have to declare a conflict of interest in (those) circumstances … but it isn’t a matter of making a choice.”

For the past year, Hughes hasn’t been able to take part in the discussions on the expansion of Burl’s Creek at the council table. While he could often be found in the background at public meetings of council on the matter, he was excluded from all confidential discussions and votes.

“I continued to keep myself abreast of everything that was available to me, outside of the closed session,” Hughes said. “I knew there … could be a possibility my grandson’s situation might change … I know what’s happened in terms of the public session.”

Hughes will be brought up to speed on the issues in the coming weeks, as the township is in the midst of an Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing on the temporary zoning bylaw applied for last year by the owners of Burl’s Creek. At the same time, a permanent rezoning application has been submitted to township regarding the property. Through the staff reports on those applications, Hughes will get a clearer picture of what has been happening.

It’s concerning to him the case went to the OMB in the first place, and he’s hopeful a resolution will come to pass before the board can make a decision on the permanent rezoning application.

“The OMB will be dealing with factual information and there’s been more than a small amount of information that has been misleading put out there, and people have relied on that aspect,” Hughes said. “Once the factual information is presented from the OMB, people may be more dis-positioned to follow a better process.”

The mayor is relieved he can get back to work on the file he was active on before declaring the conflict. He had been active on the file prior to the declaration, including attending a meeting with the new property owners at the request of the township’s economic development office. That was done while a temporary zoning bylaw — later repealed due to errors in the way it was passed — was in place. That bylaw was passed prior to the mayor’s grandson gaining employment with the former owner of Burl’s Creek.

While the situation at Burl’s Creek has drawn out for well more than a year, Hughes said any belief the township’s reputation has been tarnished by the controversy surrounding the file is merely a matter of opinion. He lauded township staff for their work on the matter through the entire process.

“As far as the staff following the process, I would find it difficult for anyone to point out that they haven’t acted appropriately in that regard,” Hughes said. “All the township can really do is make sure they stay in compliance with the law and they follow the process.”

“Quite frankly,” he added, “they don’t have any control over what people think.”