At the Richmond Hill Special Council Education and Training workshop held on September 22, council members had the opportunity to analyze the input received through individual councillor interviews (9) with the facilitator Rebecca Sutherns from Sage Solutions and a recent community survey. The goal was to develop the ingredients for a two year Council Strategic Action Plan.
This consultation was initiated by the City Manager Mary-Anne Dempster in order to receive direction from Council with input from the community as to what City staff should be prioritizing over the next 2 years particularly in light of the pandemic and financial hardships.
Not even 30 minutes in to the workshop, Councillor Beros is questioning the accuracy of the results. Councillor Muench is so busy driving his car that he is not paying attention to what is being discussed. Councillor Perrelli, clearly not happy with the survey results, goes into one of his rants pontificating as to why this workshop was even necessary since "everyone already knows what the plan is".
Very disrespectfully Perrelli, DiPaola and Beros stopped participating in the workshop altogether.
The outright refusal to participate in this Strategic Plan exercise led by a consultant paid for by our tax dollars shows an utter lack of respect by the above mentioned Councillors towards the facilitator Ms. Sutherns, Ms. Dempster, fellow council members and residents is unacceptable.
Most would regard this as not becoming of elected officials who are representing Richmond Hill residents. Richmond Hill residents deserve and demand better!