COUNCIL ASKS FOR STAFF ORGANIZATION CHART

A number of councillors have made a point of requesting an employee organizational chart for the Town of Renfrew, but they’ve been somewhat stymied by a staff leadership that doesn’t feel inclined to release such a thing, ostensibly because it’s not something they “typically” do.

Which when you get right down to it, is staff-speak for we could if we wanted to, but we just don’t want to.

Which is staff-speak for you’re going to have to try a lot harder to get us to create, then release such information, and we’ll stonewall you until you and the other councillors make us do it through an explicit direction from Council.

I won’t go too much into how impressed I get when somebody tells me something can’t be done, or won’t be done, because, well, that’s not the way we typically do things. A statement like that doesn’t make me want to back off, it makes me want to insist that you go “atypical“ and give me the information that I’m entitled to.

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April 17, 2025

RENFREW’S IT DEBACLE

I guess there’s times in life where you just have to decide who it is you’d rather be sued by.

Imagine putting yourself in a position precarious enough that you can clearly see that, no matter what you do, somebody’s going to come at you with civil litigation.

Then, and simply for the point of making an argument, what if you were to put the corporation you work for in that precarious position?

At least to me, and I’m often alone in my thinking, none of anything above strikes me as good business, personal, corporate, or anything in between.

Getting sued, one way or another, is generally an indicator that something’s gone wrong, that somebody or group of somebodies messed up, that a grievance ensued, a grievance whose only remedy is cash.

The Town of Renfrew has signed an Information Technology (IT) service-provision contract with a company called OnServe, who by all accounts is a straight-up legitimate choice for the job had the award not been called into question, not by anything they did or might have done, but rather for the potentially and possibly fatally-flawed process that was utilized by town staff in awarding the contract in the first place.

That was a three-year contract worth approximately $85,000/year, which roughly extends out to $235,000 over the course of the deal.

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February 13, 2025

RECUSALS AND LAME DUCK COUNCILS

Comments made by Councillor Andrew Dick in a previous council meeting resulted in an investigation by the town’s Integrity Commissioner, an investigation resulting in a recommendation that the councillor offer a public apology and receive a censure from Council.

I’ve seen Councillor Dick’s comments in text form, but have not reviewed the YouTube record of the meeting in question.

In question at the time was a contract tendered for renovations undertaken at the Town Hall, a project that ballooned in cost and went significantly over budget.

At issue was the fact that a councillor at the time, one Arlene Jamieson, owned a decor business in town, Venture Interiors, that had put a bid in to undertake some of the work on the Town Hall. It’s important to point out that Councillor Jamieson declared herself to be in conflict, and did not participate in any approvals specific to her business. It should also be noted that former Councillor Jamieson did nothing wrong, nor anythng illegal or untoward.

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January 17, 2025

INTEGRITY COMMISSIONER REPORT

I’m going to hate writing this.

Mostly because it will fly in the face of what everyone else likely thinks. It’s not like I’m looking to be contrary for the sake of being contrary. And I don’t do it lightly.

This has been percolating in my mind for 36 hours now, and I know I could have left it alone and see it wash downstream, but then again, I also knew I couldn’t.

No offence intended towards anyone.

Tuesday night, Integrity Commissioner Tony Fleming attended Council via Zoom and delivered his findings on two separate complaints filed under the Council Code of Conduct. His presentation was professional and coherent, and everything you’d want to see from someone tasked with the resolution of these complaints.

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January 16, 2025

NEW COUNCIL FINDS SPOILED SANDWICH IN THE FRIDGE

It’s late October, 2022.

It’s the morning after an election win for five candidates who have successfully been selected as councillors for the Town of Renfrew. Four of them are new to this, Councillors Dick, Cybulski, Legris, and McDonald. The fifth, Councillor McWhirter, has served on council in the past, but this morning I’m describing here must still feel pretty good for him too.

There’s nothing quite as exhilarating as standing for office, or any other election-based position, and coming out the other end of it on top. There’s a bit of a high attached to it. And excitement. Perhaps even a little bit of anxiety now that you’ve gone and put your name out there, and then won. You’re happy, people are happy for you, your family is super happy, and proud on top of that. It’s a cool experience.

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November 7, 2024

A NIGHT AT RENFREW TOWN COUNCIL: OBSERVATIONS, THOUGHTS, AND COPIOUS NOTES

I attended a meeting of Renfrew Town Council last night, something I’ve not done in a very long time. I wanted to get a sense of the dynamic of the place, the personalities present, political and administrative, official and non-official. As in most such endeavours, information was gleaned, intelligence was gathered.

There were only four members in the public gallery, so I’ll have to assume that the legions of voters and interest groups out there ravenous for news emanating from a council meeting must have been taking it in via livestream. But just like hockey, watching on television and seeing it live and in person are two different event experiences. Seeing it live, up close, physically almost right there in the middle of it owing to the size of the room and its configuration, is far more personal, immediate, and telling.

I was half-expecting to see a ranking officer from the Ontario Provincial Police attending, possibly as a participant, perhaps, like me, as a witness. But I saw no Bright White Shirts in the gallery, so no such luck there. Mine remained the brightest white shirt in the crowd.

Too bad only four of us got to see all of this, but that’s on the public, not council. So it was me, two gentlemen from a senior’s hockey club looking for a reduction of ice-time costs, and a former mayor and councillor busily scribbling notes for the entire two hours of the open meeting.

I had attended to get a look at the several people in the room who had failed to return an email outreach I had made to them late last week. I wanted to see what it was about them that made them feel I could be dissuaded just by being simply ignored, a policy akin to an ostrich, its head, and the sand. One councillor had even blocked my communication attempts, prompting me to wonder if I was embroiled in some sort of adolescent Facebook fight.

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October 23, 2024