By Pam Wright
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Discourse remained civil, but the issue of politicking made its way to the council floor prior to the approval of the Chatham-Kent Community Hub and spilled over onto social media afterwards.
At its meeting Oct. 20, municipal council voted 14-4 to accept a tender from Fortis Construction Group Inc. to construct the new Chatham facility at the site of the former Sears store. The complex will combine a new Chatham library branch, the museum and C-K Civic Centre under one roof.
Prior to voting on the tender, Chatham Coun. Alysson Storey brought forward a motion to defer a decision, asking administration for more information on future costs of the Hub.
However, the motion didn’t sit well with some councillors who stated that ongoing opposition to the Hub has compromised the process.
West Kent Coun. Lauren Anderson was direct.
“I find that the filibustering during council meetings on this topic has deterred the public from really listening to council meetings and getting the facts in real time, because of the length of the meetings that we have,” Anderson said. “And I also think it’s allowed those that oppose to nitpick and snip apart certain things that would deter people from being in favour of a project like this. And I think that’s been detrimental to the public outlook on this project.”
Chatham Coun. Brock McGregor said he didn’t support asking for more information on the Hub project, stating public trust has been impacted.
“I’m uncomfortable with any insinuation that we are making this decision without enough information,” McGregor told council. “We’ve received this information…not only have we received this information, we’ve received it over and over again.
“One of the few downsides of this project has been some of the social media response, some of the seeding of distrust of the process that frankly isn’t true,” he added. “We have the information and we need to make this decision.”
One supposed concern that has arisen on social media, and has to some extent been championed by Storey, is an allegation the Hub could result in the closure of rural libraries.
One day prior to the council meeting, Storey posted a graphic on social media that stated, “Protect our libraries. Say no to the Hub.”
In speaking to the issue, McGregor said he wanted to dispel any inference that building the Hub will lead to rural library closures.
“I want to make that clear tonight” he said.
In response to some of Storey’s comments, West Kent Coun. Melissa Harrigan raised “point of privilege,” saying that Storey’s claim that rural libraries will close because of costs associated with the Hub are false.
“I would like to reassure my constituents that I have heard and seen that local libraries and rural committees are not going to be impacted from this,” Harrigan said. “Our CFO (chief financial officer Gord Quinton) has said this, and so for the mover to suggest that is not true has impugned in some ways the integrity of council.”
In speaking to critics, Storey defended her position.
“Some might call it filibustering, but that’s a bit of a cheap shot, I think, because I would call that doing due diligence for the taxpayer,” Storey said. “It’s easy to write off opinions you don’t like as politics, or write off the genuine concern of taxpayers who see their costs going up across the board. We don’t have the staffing costs. Plain and simple.
“Now is the time to get that information,” she added, noting the money that’s being spent belongs to taxpayers.
In August, the municipality’s integrity commissioner, Suzanne Craig, recommended sanctions against Storey for violating council’s code of conduct.
In her report, Craig said Storey’s conduct at a citizens’ group meeting earlier this year “undermined staff.”
At issue, said Craig, were comments made by Storey that municipal staff were not providing full financial details about the C-K Hub project and that the development was not fully accessible.
In September, council voted to give Storey a formal reprimand on the matter.
At the Oct. 20 council meeting, Storey stated council did not have “staffing costs,” again inferring council did not receive full financial details on the project.
In her comments about Storey’s motion North Kent Coun. Rhonda Jubenville said she didn’t think it was about politics.
“I respectfully disagree,” she said. “I don’t think this is about politics; I think this is just asking for a full comparative chart (of expenses) so we can make a decision. I think it’s important we know all the details.”
It should be noted that the late Joseph Storey, grandfather of Alysson Storey, designed the Civic Centre more than 50 years ago.
The fact that previous councils had declined to fix up the Civic Centre as recommended by administration at least three times since 2017 was also raised by South Kent Coun. Anthony Ceccacci.
“It’s interesting to hear some councillors say we should be fixing the thing (Civic Centre) because that wasn’t the narrative back then,” Ceccacci explained, admitting he was one of the councillors who voted against the repairs.
“I was one of the people who said ‘no, let’s not spend money,’” he added, noting it wasn’t smart to do that.
“At the end of the day, we should have fixed it. But the pressure in the community was extreme – as it is right now,” Ceccacci told council, adding if there was any threat to rural services because of the Hub he would not support it.
South Kent Coun. Trevor Thompson also spoke to the fact council neglected to repair the Civic Centre.
“Residents and lobby groups decided that was a bad idea and we shouldn’t do it,” Thompson said, noting he was among the councillors who voted against fixing up the Civic Centre.
Thompson stated he couldn’t support deferring the decision on the Hub because the “ship has sailed” and he’s not playing political games anymore.
