By Pepper Parr
April 18, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
It was going to be a bumpy meeting and it didn’t get off to all that good a start.
Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna
Nick Leblovic said that he needed additional time to complete his delegation which was added to the agenda. In order to get more time council had to agree to waive the procedural rules.
A two thirds vote of council members was required for the rule to be waived.
Mayor Meed Ward was not able to get a seconder to the motion to waive the rules.
Before that vote was taken ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna asked:
“Is it the same delegation that will be done verbally? Or will there be other information and the reason why I say that is because I had to read it three or four times. And I actually don’t understand any of it. So I’m concerned about giving the extra 15 minutes and I can’t make out what the issue is so unless you know that maybe paraphrase in five minutes.”
Jim Thompson reacting to remarks Nick Leblovic was making during his delegation to city council.
So Leblovic had to limit himself to just five minutes. However, before it was all over he was at the podium for more than an hour.
The recommendation to Council was that training be provided to members of boards on the ethical framework these boards should be working within – with the training taking up to an hour or an hour and a half in length.
Mr Leblovic’s request for an extension was denied because the Mayor could not get anyone to second the motion. That alone is very telling. Having used his 5 minutes to delegate on his 13 page submission, the session then goes on for another hour. Looking at the facts of the case one has to wonder why COB wasted our money on an IC report when at the core, this issue is about a member of the CoA’s introduction of hearsay and irrelevant information into an application hearing. That alone should have us all pause. Imagine how this might have turned out had the applicants request been denied by the CoA. Clearly there’s some housekeeping to be done with respect to the membership of the CoA.
Joe,
The City doesn’t decide on a report from the Integrity Commissioner. The complaint goes directly to the IC. The IC investigates if they find the complaint has merit. If Leblovic’s estimate of 50 hrs at $235/hr is accurate I’d say the city got a bargain.
If the IC didn’t have the authority do you think anything would have come of the complaint?
You are correct that there is lots of Housekeeping to be done on the CoA. The first should be requiring them to post minutes of their meetings like other City boards and committees.
There is a project underway to modernize the CoA. It was reported on at The CPRM on February 28. Staff is to come back with a report in Q2 that is to include a review of the Terms of Reference of the CoA. The Community need to delegate on this report to effect change at the CoA.
I find it shocking that I am the only person delegating on Bateman. This is one of the largest projects the City has undertaken with significant cost to the City and an impact on future taxes. Yet no one is delegating when it comes up at council.
Despite all the comments in this newspaper, no one submitted comments to council on the Leblovic case.
The council counts comments. At the meetings on the LaSalle Park insurance issue last year the Mayor recited how many comments they received as proof of engagement.
Burlington has become apathetic. Council likes it that way.
“The man who is his own lawyer has a fool for his client” -Anonymous first published in 1795 as the translation of an Italian proverb.
It was unbelievable to hear that the Integrity Commissioner had investigated without a complaint. Or maybe this was when he was speculating about how many hours the Integrity Commissioner had billed at $235/hr As if $10,000 or so in legal fees is even relevant when the City is spending millions on the OLT appeals.
The best part of the proceeding was when the Integrity Commissioner read from an email in which she had offered to meet to discuss the issues. Thus invalidating his claim that at no time had the IC offered to meet with him and insisted that all communication be in writing. Leblovic never took her up on the offer.
Definitely not a good day.
In fairness to Councillor Bentivenga he complimented the IC on her report. He had no problems understanding it.