MOUNT FOREST – Council's decision to no longer discuss the decommission the Mount Forest Lion Roy Grant Pool has some people questioning whether residents' opinions are being considered in the grand scheme of its decisions.
When Mount Forest resident Michelle McInnis applied to delegate about the Mount Forest Lion Roy Grant pool at the next Wellington North council meeting on Aug. 12, she was "disheartened" but not shocked to hear her request was denied and she wouldn't be permitted to delegate on the topic for another 12 months.
Attending the meeting to support registered delegate Tom Potts, McInnis was one of several people who took part in an impromptu question-and-answer period at a council meeting Monday evening to question a newly announced plan to decommission the existing pool and replace it with a water tower in approximately 30 years.
Saying she would've waited for an opportunity to formally delegate if informed she wouldn't be permitted to speak on the topic for another year due to her participation in the session, McInnis believes the municipal act is being misused to silence her and others' questions about the pool proposal.
McInnis has since submitted a complaint to the Ontario Ombudsman.
"(The mayor) did not say something like 'you're now deputized'...and so I thought (when he allowed us to speak), it was for the care of his constituents and to make people feel heard," said McInnis, in a phone interview with GuelphToday. "I had no idea that (when I spoke during the meeting), it was me agreeing to be deputized. And it really does feel like they simply don't want us to speak."
In an emailed statement, township clerk Karren Wallace said McInnis' submission for the Aug. 12 meeting was not permitted because it "did not contain any new information" from her previous delegation.
Wallace said residents who have not deputed on the pool issue in the past 12 months will be permitted to speak at future meetings, although they haven't received any other requests at this time.
In an email to McInnis shared with GuelphToday, Wallace said her request to delegate was denied because she was "one of those who took the opportunity to speak to council about (the pool) issue" when Mayor Andy Lennox "set aside procedure bylaw and permitted several unscheduled deputations" regarding the pool closure and construction of a new pool at a council meeting Monday night.
Quoting the procedure bylaw, Wallace said an individual or group who has already made a deputation on a subject shall not make another deputation within a 12-month period on the same subject unless there is new information to be provided or a new council is in place as a result of a municipal election unless council passes a motion in favour of having the individual or group make another deputation.
But McInnis said "the facts are being twisted" to meet council's narrative and is asking for any evidence they have that can prove she agreed and was aware she was being deputized.
"I really believe that local, provincial, federal politicians, that somewhere along the line, they've forgotten that they are there to serve us. We are the stakeholders. We are, for all intents and purposes, their bosses," said McInnis. "We're the ones that have elected them to act in our best interest, in our township's best interest and it really just feels to me that somewhere along the lines that has been lost, and that makes me sad."
Since her delegation request was rejected, McInnis created a petition to "compel Mount Forest council to estimate repair costs" before decommissioning the pool. The petition garnered over 100 signatures in less than 24 hours.
McInnis is also considering organizing a protest at the old pool site within the next few days if she doesn't see any wiggle room or consideration on her delegation request.
"Even if I can't delegate for Aug. 12, (I plan on) still attending the meeting, encouraging people to attend and then holding a little sub-meeting following the council meeting to hear the voices of the people and collaborate in terms of what next steps could be," said McInnis. "But let's be honest- the pool may very well be filled in by then."
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
