By Stephen Vance, Staff
A perhaps overly cautious Meaford council voted to defer receipt of a report at their September 28 meeting, that would have become a guiding document for the future planning for the recreation and culture department of the municipality.
While the recommendations contained in the report were not binding, Deputy Mayor Harley Greenfield expressed concern about formally receiving the document before the completion of a review of all municipal services, and he also had some qualms with some of the 94 recommendations in the report.
“I’m certainly not willing to vote to pass this document,” Greenfield told council. “For a number of reasons. We’ll start with one which may or may not be of the utmost importance, but in a time of our council and our staff attempting to cut back on employee expenses, this report suggests that we hire one full-time employee, and one part-time employee, even though we have a hiring freeze in place.”
Greenfield also suggested that Meaford ratepayers want repairs to roads and bridges, and internet connectivity rather than the culture and recreation items suggested in the report.
“Recreation and culture activities, I’m the first one to say yes, they are important, very important. I want the balcony done in Meaford Hall as much, or maybe more than anyone, but I’m here to represent the residents of this municipality, and I just can’t see going ahead and approving this plan at this time,” Greenfield told council.
Meaford CAO Denyse Morrissey reminded council that voting to receive the report was not an approval by council of the 94 recommendations contained in the report, but rather it would provide a guiding document for future planning. Implementation of any of the recommendations in the report would have required separate council approval.
Council wasn’t convinced, and Greenfield saw unanimous support in a 5 – 0 vote (Councillor Mike Poetker was absent) of his motion to defer receipt of the docuement.
Deferral of the report – which cost $50,000 to produce – will not have an impact on the operations of the culture and recreation department, and individual projects could still move forward with council approval, just as they would had the report been received by council.
