By Pepper Parr
November 1, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Two pieces of information had to be corrected: the date on which the request to delegate was made and the number of names on the petition.
We received the following from Wendy Fletcher, a Burlington resident.
“On October 27, 2023, I filled out a delegation and submitted it to the clerks office. The delegation was to submit a petition in opposition to the budget. I spoke to Lisa Palmero shortly afterwards who advised me that the meeting on Oct 30 was the wrong one and that it was the Nov 2. 2023 Regular Council meeting that it needed to be presented at. She said I didn’t have to do anything, she would ensure it was attached. She said I could send in an updated signature list by noon Nov 1.”
The meeting at which Ms Fletcher wanted to speak was not a budget meeting – the rules are that the matter on which you wish to delegate has to take place at the proper meeting – dumb rule – but I didn’t create it. Budget matters get discussed at budget meetings.
Ms Fletcher continues: “As per the city’s own rules of engagement, I am entitled to oppose a matter on an upcoming agenda. This is exactly what my intention was in making the delegation for Nov 2. My intention was also for this petition to be part of the public record in opposition to the budget, at the time the budget was released.”
The link below set out the rules:
https://www.burlington.ca/en/council-and-city-administration/engaging-with-city-council.aspx
Ms Fletcher points to the section that concerns her.
“Petition titles will be listed in the minutes of the meeting, which are posted to the City’s website, and the full petition kept on file as part of the official public record. As part of the public record, petitions may also be distributed to other members of the public on request.”
She continues:
City Clerk – Kevin Arjoon
“On Oct 31, 2023, I was sent an email by Kevin Arjoon (City Clerk) stating my petition was moved to Nov 14, 2023. No reason was given. Regardless of any reason he may conjure up subsequently, this refusal to allow me to participate and to refuse to allow my petition which was submitted well within the required timelines, to be included as part of the public record on the date of the council item it was objecting to, constitutes a violation of my rights as a taxpayer.”
What are Arjoon was doing was moving a citizens opposition to a budget to a date after which the budget is being presented to city Council. Mayor Meed Ward will be presenting her budget to a Council meeting during which she will explain what her budget is about and justify why she made the decisions she did.
Ms Fletcher continues: “It is a deliberate move by the city to prevent taxpayers from knowing of its existence until all city participation in the budget has ceased as no one visiting the city’s website for the Nov 2 call or the Nov 7 meeting will have any knowledge of the material. It will be as if it doesn’t exist. Further it is a deliberate move to disallow me to participate in this process, a right I am granted by law.
“By refusing to allow my petition to be on record until Nov 14, it also impinges on the rights of every person who signed the petition. As well it violates the rights of every property owner in the city of Burlington as you take away their right to make alternate decisions by withholding information from them.
“City council had no problem accepting a similar petition with respect to the potential development in Millcroft going so far as to include it in press releases. But a petition against the proposed property tax increase gets removed until a point that it’s past all public input?
“In addition to violating my rights on several levels, this move is unethical, lacks integrity and is massively oppressive. The City of Burlington claims they want city involvement. There are almost 2000 people saying they don’t want this tax increase. And city hall’s response is to silence them. That’s not taxpayer involvement. That’s dictatorship. Given the violation of my rights and your own policies, I have filed a complaint with the Ombudsman’s
“I want my petition marked as part of the public record for Nov 2 ,2023 as I was told it would be, and as is my right under law.”
The Gazette has asked for a copy of the petition which we will publish in full when it is received.
For those who want to sign the petition you can do so HERE
For those of us who did not watch the Mayor present her budget, was Ms. Fletcher allowed to read her petition into the record?
Editor’s note. No she did not but the Clerk did read the salient points into the record – and in the process may have set a record for saying a few words faster than anyone could possibly imagine.
I’ve been following this story and thought to myself, good lord what business leader prescribes financial metrics to their team in such detail. This is a clear example of micromanagement and what it it says is “I’m the smartest in the room the the rest need to follow my lead”. The team then ultimately throws up its hands and relies on the leader to tell them what to do, and this process just gets more and more granular and ultimately the organization becomes dysfunctional.
This is beyond the pale even for this Clerk, and that’s saying something. Are we to believe he did this on his own or did someone suggest he do it?
Anyone who wants to delegate should refuse the fairly new rule about having to submit their delegation in advance, under the supposed guise of it being a requirement in case of “technical issues.” We should be able to simply register to delegate, and they’ll hear what we have to say when we say it. This is how it used to be.
We all have a right to speak from the cuff if we want to at a public meeting, to not have council members already have dissected our remarks before we even make them, to be able to change on the fly what we say, based maybe on what other delegates say before us or what we hear from staff etc. And now here is another reason: submitting in advance allows their pulling stunts like this.
It also allows the absurd theatre we see at council meetings where certain delegates are greeted with hugs and huge smiles and chit chat by the mayor and council members prior to the meeting right in the chambers, while others are ignored. Having already read all the delegations, they make it quite clear with whom they agree and with whom they don’t. And this they claim is a welcoming environment for everyone?
I literally just made these points yesterday at one of the city’s latest “Engagement Charter” meetings. There were only two of us there. Democracy dies in darkness, as the Washington Post tagline notes, and it’s dying in Burlington.
Thank you Ms. Fletcher for fighting this and making it public. Please provide a link to the petition – I’m sure many more would like to see it. Also, excellent point when you compare the process for your petition vs the Milcroft one, which the Mayor and council were all very much in favour of. I hope today you will attend and delegate and submit your petition anyway. Let’s watch them not allow it – you’ll have more to add to the complaint to the Ombudsman.
Editor’s note: There is a link to the petition at the very end of the article.
Lynn
There is no rule about submitting your delegation in advance.
Neither Anne Marsden nor myself submitted our delegations today.
The only time you need to submit in advance is if you want to have a presentation on the screen.
I have never had any presentation rejected, they did ask me to remove an identifiable person from a photograph many years ago, but that’s it.
Correction
There are a couple of rules that could be used to request delegation material in advance. They could be misused, but I haven’t had any problems.
Glad to hear that Jim. Interesting because I’m sure they tout this now and I read it to mean it was a requirement, when you’re registering. Good to know it isn’t.
Actually this is a violation of the Procedure By-law.
Item 48.1 states that. Council is the only body that can receive a petition.
So Lisa Palmero was correct that it couldn’t go to CSSRA on Monday
The November 2 meeting is called a regular meeting of Council so it should be able to receive a petition.
The Budget is on the Agenda at the November 2 meeting so as
Item 48.5 of the By-law states Petitions that relate to a matter on the agenda will be dealt with during the petitions portion of the meeting.
A regular meeting of council has Section 32.1(k) for petitions.
Looks like the Committee Clerk know the Procedure Bylaw better than the City Clerk.
Thank you Wendy for leading the end of silence on the Clerk’s antics that are indicators of the move away by council and senior staff from the democratic process to set rhe budget that we once had. Sadly the evidence from our audits is it is being replaced with MMW spin. John Boich warned us our democratic rights,we should have at the lectern, were on their way out with the increasing toxic city hall and council atmosphere and treatment of those who wanted public opinion respected as our procedural bylaw and policies once demanded.
We and a very few others, all Gazette past and present commentators have felt very lonely, but not any more. We knew those voices were there and should have known they would not allow another wreath being laid by those who thumb their nose at bylaws and policies they approved based on legislative requirements on November 11, 2023. The Cenotaph is in the shadow of city hall and these 2000 signatures will we are sure be appreciated by many more than that as a sign that democracy is not dead in Burlington. Those who act like they believe it is need to start packing up their city hall office.
The City of Burlington appears to be dysfunctional and as a resident for the past 50 years I can’t recall a similar amount of confusion in years past. It’s as if the Council no longer run the City and are only a deflection for staff that may be operating to their own tune rather than that of the taxpayers.