Richmond Hill Council Meeting Wednesday June 8, 2022 at 9:30am
View Revised agenda here and Meeting videos Part 1 & Part 2 & Part 3 & Part 4.
Another productive meeting albeit there were many disruptions and interruptions. There were 4 delegations and 84 pieces of correspondence from residents about the various motions.
Albeit there were zero Points of Order last meeting, "Point of Information" seemed to be the tool of interruption favoured by some councillors at this meeting. No matter how you slice it Points of Order and/or Points of Information interrupt the speaker so going forward we'll call them Points of Interruption. At the June 8th meeting there were at least 15 Points of Interruption.
The outcome of the 5 Member Motions was 2 YES and 2 NO and 1 withdrawn. Read on for more details.
Recap:
#1 Member Motion - Councillor Sheppard - Compassionate Richmond Hill
The majority of Council was supportive of the motion that commits to restoring compassion in our society and rejects any practice that breeds hatred, violence, intolerance and disdain, on basis of one’s creed, race, gender or sexuality, national origin, religion, culture, color, or constitution.
Motion passed
In Favour - West, DiPaola, Liu, Sheppard, Cilevitz, Chan
Against - Perrelli, Beros, Muench
Sheppard - "Spreading the message of compassion and creating a compassionate community starts at home or in this case at city hall. I regret to say that this municipality has sometimes deviated from this path and that many people in this organization have faced some type of bullying intimidation or harassment often times only for having differing opinions" Watch clip here
Muench wanted to refer this back to staff, Beros thought it would conflict with the Character Community program already in place. Perrelli said that the Charter was not inclusive as it did not include age, sex, marital status, family status and disability.
Click here to watch a brief clip of the council interaction on this motion
#2 Member Motion - Regional and Local Councillor Perrelli - Yonge and Bloomington Park
Requests that Richmond Hill Council direct staff to enter into negotiations with the owner of the south-east corner of Yonge & Bloomington, Baif Developments, to purchase the site.
Motion did not pass
In Favour - Perrelli, Beros, Muench
Against - West, DiPaola, Liu, Sheppard, Cilevitz, Chan
Delegate John Li questioned why a park is needed in the far north of Richmond Hill when the extreme intensification is happening at Yonge and 7.
Perrelli's response was how in his first term of office (2010) he "advocated for the David Dunlap Observatory to be bought by the city to preserve it as a central park a destination park and when we voted on that motion was eight to one. I stood alone on that. Had we purchased that property it would have been 200 acres it would have been centrally located we would have purchased it at the time for under 1.5 million dollars an acre."
What's the Whole Story?
According to this article from 2012 Perrelli proposed to purchase the DDO lands and it "would cost the town about $70 million, which could be purchased with the town’s “parkland cash-in-lieu” funds". (sound familiar?)
Council voted down his motion (8-1) and it did go to the OMB and in a landmark settlement mediated in 2013, Richmond Hill was GIVEN 56% of the site and it is now being turned into a destination park. Read more about the mediation here
The motion states that the City has $70 million available for Parks acquisitions which could be used to buy the Yonge/Bloomington land from Baif Developments.
According to Mayor West the $70M is already earmarked for other projects:
"Our parkland cash and lieu budget which is primarily one of the things that we would use in that is is to acquire parkland. At the present moment in our capital sustainability plan, monies that are in that are all spoken for in the either immediate future or in the near future so the reality is we don't actually have a lot of money that we could dip into in that fund and not have a ramification down the road where we would be short in the in the not so distant future keeping in mind that that parkland cash and lieu fund also includes funds for park restorations/ renovations all that kind of stuff." "If we spent all the money on this one park we wouldn't have sufficient money to deal with all those other expected costs".
Listen to Mayor West's comments
#3 Member Motion - Regional and Local Councillor Perrelli - Green and Blue Bin Replacement - Free Home Delivery
Wants Council to direct staff to report back to the June 22nd Council meeting on a plan to include free green/blue bin home delivery and pick up service.
Councillor DiPaola brought forth a motion to to refer this item to the budget process citing "this would have been a great suggestion two to three months ago back in February when we were discussing the budget but any decision like this that will involve an expenditure
to taxpayers money is is always going to have a consequence".
Subsequently Perrelli stated: "I've tried my best to try and provide a service to the residents
this council won't have it they just want to kick the can down the road and so what can I do except I will offer free home delivery myself and I'll continue to do so as I've done for the last month I have no other choice. The council doesn't want to do it they don't want to ask staff to do it I will do it myself personally I withdraw my motion".
Motion was withdrawn
#4 Member Motion - Councillor Beros - Regional and Local Councillor Perrelli's Enviro Day Event Exemption from the Events Policy
The motion requests that Council reconsider their previous decision that Councillor Perrelli provide full reimbursement to the City for the Enviro Day event to cover the amount owing of $139,623.30 and declare that Councillor Perrelli is not required to provide any reimbursement to the City for the event. Also direct staff to unfreeze the Events Account and restore to it $55,709 for Councillor Perrelli’s use.
Unlike the October 2021 Council meeting Perelli did declare a Pecuniary Interest this time so did not attend.
The motion to reconsider Failed so therefore the rest of the motion did not move forward
In Favour of reconsideration - Beros, Muench
Against - West, DiPaola, Liu, Sheppard, Cilevitz, Chan
In closed session Council received legal advice regarding this motion after which Beros presented his motion. He stated "I'm going to take you through a few court cases just quickly and what I'm hoping to do is save taxpayers money from a protracted legal battle the precedent has been set that councils do not have the authority to put a debt on an elected official personally".
Beros quoted the 3 court cases below. Are these relevant in this case?
Magder vs Ford Click here to read about the court case
Muthuku vs Barrow Click here to read about the court case
Perrelli vs Town of Richmond Hill Click here to read about the court case
Cilevitz asked the Treasurer Gigi Li "what happens if that $139,000 is not paid, how is it written off, who actually has to foot that bill should we not go forward in trying to get that money back?"
Li responded "if there's no form of reimbursement or additional event sponsorship funds to come in the city's operating results will be impacted by that dollar amount so council will have to make a decision on how to fund that and I reference the report that was brought to council back in September as well as October that staff will need council's direction to use a tax-supported reserve to fund it."
Cilevitz: "so in other words there is a possibility, we don't know the odds, there is a possibility that this could be funded through our insurance and not through public money however if the $139,000 dollars for whatever reason is not paid back the public is going to have to foot that bill."
Sheppard stated "to reiterate to residents this is not about residents getting bins this is about the fact that the bins were not free they were advertised as free bins and they were not and we're dealing with what to do with the bill as a result of this misleading event"
Watch the whole discussion here
#5 Member Motion - Councillor Liu - Richmond Green Park - Elgin Mills Road East Main Entrance Installation of Additional Sidewalk on East Side
Motion passed unanimously (Perrelli was absent)
Report of the City of Richmond Hill Council Compensation Review Committee for the November 15, 2022 to November 14, 2026 Term of Office
DiPaola put forth an amended motion which did not include recommendation #4. He did not expand on why he did not include #4 which makes amendments to severance.
Motion without #4 passed unanimously (Perrelli was absent)
Beros commented that "when I look at number four, though that was clearly omitted by the the mover, I think some people kind of figured that as part of their retirement package and they've they factored that into, yeah you don't get paid much when you're here but you know what at least there's that when you retire and I can see why we wouldn't want to leave it in as is it doesn't provide an incentive for someone to retire when they should".
View a comparison of the existing severance policy and recommendation #4 here.
All other motion passed on consent.
There are only 3 Council Meetings left until the Summer break and the August 19, 2022 nomination day for the Municipal Election.
Needless to say there should be plenty of Member Motions coming forward including 5 in this meeting alone.
Agenda items include:
Report of the City of Richmond Hill Council Compensation Review Committee for the November 15, 2022 to November 14, 2026 Term of Office
Recommendations include that compensation for members of council should be aligned with increases provided to non-unionized City Staff, including an increase of 1.70% effective January 1, 2023, with an annual cap of up to 2.25%
The amount of severance payable shall be an accumulated amount calculated at the rate of one month's current remuneration at the time the Member ceases to be a Member for every consecutive year of service on Council or part thereof to a maximum severance remuneration equal to eighteen (18) months current remuneration, subject to the following conditions:
A Member of Council shall only be entitled to receive severance remuneration if he or she is defeated in a regular municipal election and has not been reelected to Council.
A Member of Council shall not be entitled to receive any severance remuneration in the event that he or she resigns as a Member of Council; does not seek reelection in a regular municipal election; retires as a Member of Council; or, ceases to be a Member of Council as a result of any judicial or other legal proceedings or disqualification under the operation of any federal or provincial legislation
Member Motion - Councillor Liu - Richmond Green Park - Elgin Mills Road East Main Entrance Installation of Additional Sidewalk on East Side
Member Motion - Regional and Local Councillor Perrelli - Yonge and Bloomington Park
Requests that Richmond Hill Council direct staff to enter into negotiations with the owner of the south-east corner of Yonge & Bloomington, Baif Developments, to purchase the site.
Member Motion - Regional and Local Councillor Perrelli - Green and Blue Bin Replacement - Free Home Delivery
Wants Council direct staff to report back to the June 22nd Council meeting on a plan to include free green/blue bin home delivery and pick up service.
Member Motion - Councillor Beros - Regional and Local Councillor Perrelli's Enviro Day Event Exemption from the Events Policy
The motion requests that Council reconsider their previous decision that Councillor Perrelli to provide full reimbursement to the City for the Enviro Day event such that no taxpayer dollars will be used to cover the amount owing of $139,623.30
Declare that Councillor Perrelli is not required to provide any reimbursement to the City for the Enviro Day event
Also direct staff to unfreeze the Events Account and restore to it $55,709 for Councillor Perrelli’s use.
Member Motion - Councillor Sheppard - Compassionate Richmond Hill
The motion reads that City of Richmond Hill hereby affirms the tenants of the Charter for Compassion and commits to restoring compassion in our society, and hereby formalizes its commitment to encouraging our City’s diversity and cultivating an informed empathy of others.
And the City of Richmond Hill hereby commits to the rejection of any practice that breeds hatred, violence, intolerance and disdain, on basis of one’s creed, race, gender or sexuality, national origin, religion, culture, color, or constitution.
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