A lengthy admonishment by the mayor failed to shift the decision of Erin council to waive connection fees and instead implement special area charges to install water mains in downtown Hillsburgh.
On May 15 Mayor Lou Maieron lectured council for a lengthy period, citing pieces of legislation he said support his position that waiving fees special charges could and should not be applied.
Maieron spent considerable time outlining why he believes council should not have passed the bylaw.
“Under the duties of mayor, as head of council … I have to bring some new information to your attention,” he said.
He added that as part of the town’s procedural bylaw, it is his duty to abide by decisions made by council. However, he had problems doing so because of another portion of the procedural bylaw that states the decisions of council need to conform with bylaws and actions of council – in addition to a portion of the Municipal Act.
Maieron said he felt it was his duty to enlighten councillors. While he supported a plan to bring in water mains, he said, “I could not support the way it was being implemented with the waiving of [connection] fees.”
He said the process morphed into a selective rebating of fees contingent on well decommissioning, and said the original two property owners involved had already agreed to pay the costs for water services.
“I am not asking for reconsideration, as I was the only recorded vote against the resolution,” said Maieron.
He reiterated his concern that a council decision for one group of residents should apply to all.
“It should not be for the advantage of some and disadvantage others,” he said.
He argued the Municipal Act concurs with his idea and began reading the legislation he believes applies in this case – regarding bonuses for commercial operations. He said his research indicates bonuses such as the waiving of fees is not allowed under the Municipal Act.
Maieron said while councils can designate special areas for improvement under the Planning Act, he did not believe council had taken the proper steps to develop one.
“This took a bit of time to sort out.”
Maieron said since amalgamation there were no bylaws to develop a community improvement plan in Hillsburgh. He said the water hook-ups were being done in isolation from an actual community improvement plan. Even if there was a plan, Maieron stated the approach of waiving fees could not be justified.
He said he spent roughly 40 hours delving into the matter. “I certainly would not raise this concern and be found to be incorrect.”
Maieron said the mayor has “an obligation to provide leadership.”
He needed to separate himself from the issue since he voted against the decision made by the rest of council – and so he could not go into closed session with council if there is further discussion.
“I don’t bring this up with any malice. I bring this up because it is my duty to do so, and to inform you that you are possibly outside of the Municipal Act,” said Maieron.
At that point councillors John Brennan and Barb Tocher asked if the town could take the issue to its lawyer to check it.
But Maieron insisted on continuing his presentation. He said he checked with a lawyer on municipal bonuses, but when asked, he agreed he had not asked Erin’s lawyer.
“I’m not having a discussion; I’ll read you this and you can do what you wish,” said the mayor.
He read much of the lawyer’s letter to council and provided a copy to councillors.
The concern outlined by the lawyer is there is no formal community improvement plan in place for 12 properties along Trafalgar Road.
Maieron said, “I’m doing my job here because I cannot go in-camera with you.”
Brennan again suggested council needs to take it to a lawyer for legal advice.
Maieron said the parts of the letter he did not read aloud, council might want to go into closed session to discuss.
“I’ve done my duty and its cost me a tremendous amount of time and effort. I’m between a rock and a hard place, and I couldn’t do this any other way,” he said.
He stated his belief the connection fees should not be waived. “I’ve done my duty and I leave it in your hands.
By that time, the mayor’s talk had taken the meeting to 11pm, and its decision was not to extend that meeting past the 11pm curfew.
The meeting adjourned and picked up again on May 22.
Following a half hour in closed session in the middle of that meeting (officially an extension of the May 15 meeting), council reported it believes it made the right decision to give special area charges for the installation of water services for a section of downtown Hillsburgh.
Council had gone behind closed doors for a number of issues, including the Hillsburgh issue.
The mayor excluded himself from that part of the discussion, declaring a conflict of interest.
Following that session, councillor John Brennan stated one of the items discussed was the potential legality of the bylaw.
“After discussing the matter, we have decided that the bylaw went through the proper vetting, through our legal department and we are happy with the validity of the bylaw … so we will take no further action.”
Arguments made throughout the original discussions were that the special area fees would cover the cost to install and connect the water lines.
