It was a stormy session at Puslinch council on April 2 as council members debated the need to share information and what exactly comprises a conflict of interest.
Discussion centred on the Highway 6 bypass for Morriston and the work being undertaken to move the project from a proposal to a reality.
During an interview with the Wellington Advertiser, Mayor Dennis Lever stated that at the outset of the discussion he insisted comments first be made from around the council table, allowing each person to have their say.
Lever said one of the issues was that councillor Susan Fielding and her husband sold property to the Ministry of Transportation as part of the lands involved in the bypass.
When Fielding earlier declared a conflict, she’d stated it was simply a relative who owned property in the area, Lever said.
He added that while the sale was being negotiated, Fielding declared the conflict, but now that the sale is complete, she has stated that on the advice of her lawyer, she no longer has a conflict.
“But the route hasn’t changed, and if you look at a map, it goes right through the Fielding farm – which was her husband’s father’s farm,” said Lever.
Issues were also raised regarding a community Newsletter distributed by Fielding. Lever said the Newsletter suggested council had not done anything recently to move the highway bypass forward.
However, a press release issued by Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott lists numerous actions the mayor and council have taken.
Lever stated council took numerous steps during this term to bring the project forward.
“The biggest thing was that when council first took office, it tried to make an appointment with the minister of transportation at the Good Roads conference (2011),” said Lever.
At that point Kathleen Wynne was the minister of transportation and had turned down the request.
“She turned us down again the following year – and for the AMO conference as well,” Lever said. He added it was made clear that if it wasn’t based on economic impact, the bypass proposal wasn’t going anywhere.
Lever said that after that meeting, he met with local industry representatives – and realized the industries that existed at the time would not create a big enough economic impact. That was before Maple Leaf Foods had set up its eastern Canadian warehouse facility.
“That was when I was put in touch with Dr. Clarence Woudsma, University of Waterloo, School of Planning.”
Now that the economic impact study is in, work is being done to get an appointment with current Minister of Transportation Glen Murray.
Lever noted that originally, all of council was at the first meeting involving Bill Knetsch and Arnott as they met with ministry representatives.
But afterwards, the ministry wanted to keep the group smaller, Lever said.
Lever said local business owner Knetsch wanted to accomplish a number of things to improve the situation in Morriston. Now items such as crosswalk painting, bigger speed signs, and additional paving are in the township’s budget as part of a community improvement plan, Lever said.
“It is a three-year plan for Morriston to undertake real improvements to the village,” said Lever.
As to other involvement in the Morriston bypass matter, Lever noted Fielding had been to at least four conferences where there were TAPMO (Top Aggregate Producing Municipalities of Ontario) meetings.
TAPMO, he said, has the potential of having an impact of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on township finances by increasing the aggregate levy.
“And yet (Fielding) never had the time to attend any of those meetings or ask anything about it,” said Lever.
“It seemed her entire focus was on Highway 6. Considering the goal was to sell the property to the ministry makes me really question her openness and transparency.”
Lever then responded to councillor Wayne Stokley’s question on council not being informed of a meeting he attended as mayor.
Before that meeting happened, Lever said he had stated in open session (with Fielding in the gallery) that a private group was being set up and that they would be working with an outside consultant.
Lever said, “All this time it looks like (Fielding has) been promoting a project, that involves (her) husband selling property to the MTO. I don’t see any mention of that in (her) emails or Newsletters. That is hardly transparent.”
Lever then said he was unaware of the letter which had been sent to the city of Hamilton. “The first time I was aware of it was when Susan was waving it around at a council meeting.”
In February, Maple Leaf Foods’ Rory McAlpine sent a letter to the city of Hamilton, requesting $4,000 to support lobby efforts for the construction of the “Morriston bypass” on Highway 6 between Hamilton and Guelph. The lobby includes several businesses, chambers of commerce and local governments. A similar request was made to Puslinch Township and will be placed on the agenda of a future meeting.
Those meetings are a private initiative, not the township’s, Lever stressed. “I was there to give a history of the project, then I was out of it.”
He added that at that time, Professor Woudsma spoke on his report, then he was out of it.
As to the context of the meeting, Lever said “basically it was Maple Leaf stating that ‘yes’ local businesses can have an influence, but it will cost money.”
Fielding had expressed concern that the economic impact report was discussed at the Delta Hotel meeting before being discussed by council.
“Absolutely not,” the mayor stated.
He stated the report was part of the agenda packages for council back in December and that the business meeting was not until January.
“Council saw it way before anyone else did,” said Lever.
In a separate interview Roth said “the main question I raised referred to a letter in our council package from Ted Arnott about how the economic study we did really helped to move this forward.”
He said, “The government can’t ignore it any longer.”
Roth added, “I think as a council we are moving this thing forward … this has gone on for 30 years.”
He too was concerned with Fielding’s community update that suggested council had basically done nothing of late.
“She is saying as a council we are not doing things which I believe we are,” said Roth.
“I’m of the impression that she is thinking she’s the only one who can drive this forward.”
As to whether or not a conflict exists because of the property ownership, Roth said to him the only difference is that now she and her husband have sold property for the bypass.
He clarified that before the reason for the conflict was that a family member owned property in the area.
“But even with the sale,” Roth said, “a family member still has property in the area.”
As for councillor Wayne Stokley, he said “it’s not necessarily about the bypass itself, but in making council more aware and communication between other agencies, the commercial and businesses in the area.”
He added “If you are having a meeting or discussing comments, that should be brought back to council so we are made aware of what is happening.
“I think we are all in agreement that we should be working together … we should not be trying to hide things, but trying to make sure everyone has the information to be dealt with accordingly.”
Stokley said everyone is in agreement on the need for a bypass. “We’re all on the same side, so why not make the information available for everyone?”
He said if the mayor has met with someone, “we as council would like to know about it.”
In a telephone interview with the Advertiser councillor Fielding described the April 2 exchange as “an interesting meeting.”
Fielding said, “There were a lot of accusations which flew around the council table, which I thought were very inappropriate.”
She contended there were a lot of diversion tactics used by the mayor during the meeting.
“The point of my letter was to enquire why the mayor had been speaking on behalf of council without its knowledge or permission,” said Fielding.
She added it was at her urging, McAlpine had sent a letter to Puslinch council seeking a donation for his group. Staff will prepare a report on the potential donation, she said.
“I was just glad I was able to get it onto the council agenda. I think this will be a good move forward for Puslinch.”
She noted that in the past, she had declared a conflict on the Morriston bypass issue.
“Anything I’ve done has been with legal advice and my conflict is now over. As such, there is no reason I cannot fully participate in the discussion.”
She felt the property ownership “was a pretty low tactic by the mayor trying to divert what the real issue was.”
To Fielding, “It is that the mayor is not being fully accountable to our council when he speaks on council’s behalf without council knowing about it.”
She was equally concerned that Woudsma had yet to come to council to officially present his findings. Woudsma’s report was part of the Dec. 4, 2013 agenda package.
“Our council paid for this and we have yet to meet him,” she said. “As far as I know, the study is still in draft form. We’ve never seen a final copy of it.”
Fielding maintained, “This is not a one-man show, it is a council issue, it is a public issue. I am determined to see that it stays that way and I will challenge the mayor as many times as I have to.”
She was offended by the suggestions of conflict of interest. “To throw out accusations of conflict of interest … it’s over. I have nothing to gain now.”
She also took issue with her husband’s name being drawn into the discussions. “He’s my husband, but he’s not a public figure,” Fielding said. “It really goes to show that they were trying to divert the true issue – which is transparency, and there is a big lack of transparency.”
Fielding later sent an email with additional comments regarding accusations of potential conflicts of interest.
“When I got home, I called my lawyer and he stated to me, as he has before, that unequivocally, I no longer have a conflict. End of story – it is a non-issue. Most conflicts do not last forever and mine has been resolved. It was obviously … [an attempt] to create smoke and mirrors of the real issue.”
Fielding added, “I am not sure what the mayor is trying to accomplish. Whenever the Highway 6 issue has come up on the agenda, it is like pulling teeth trying to get any info from him.”
