Council member creates citizens waterfront advisory committee. Is that legal?

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON  September 19, 2012  She used the Save our Waterfront (SOW) to win in Ward 2 in 2010.  She did her best to get at least one of her people on the  Waterfront Access and Protection Advisory (WAPA) Committee and when she realized it was going to come to an inglorious end when the city sunset the thing,  she quickly formed another committee on the waterfront.

All is not going to stay quiet on this waterfront. A city council member, Marianne Meed Ward has created a citizens advisory committee on the waterfront that is going to take a holistic look at what is best for the city.  The unfinished pier is in the background.

Marianne Meed Ward announced this week that there will be a waterfront committee (it doesn’t appear to have a name yet) that will be run out of her office.

Meed Ward, along with the existing 11 committee members felt the waterfront was too important to come to an end and come January there will be a new one.

Meed Ward voted for the sun setting of the committee because, she says, there was too much duplication with other committees in place.  Those other committees are still in place but that isn’t going to stop Meed Ward.  Her committee is going to be unique in its makeup and focus.

If Meed Ward focuses too much of her attention on the Beachway Park, which is the biggest issue on the waterfront at this time, she will run into some pretty stiff opposition from Rick Craven –  the Beachway is in his ward.

At some point in the near future the Riviera Motel will get torn down and construction will begin on at least one part of the Bridgewater complex that is permitted to put three structures on the property; two seven storey and one 22 storey. Meed Ward has a very special interest in this part of the waterfront

Meed Ward is going to bring a “holistic” view to her committee, which she will chair but not have a vote on.  She expects to have two people from each ward in the city with a number of alternates to handle those  situations where someone can’t make a meeting.

One of the problem WAPA chair, Nick Leblovic had was ensuring that he actually had a quorum; there were occasions when he had to suspend his meeting while someone went to the washroom.

Meed Ward was the only member of this council that voted against going to a new contractor to complete the pier.  She felt at the time that the city should have and could have worked out the construction problems with the original contractor Henry Schilthuis and Sons Ltd.

The city begins spending really serious dollars in November on the pier when all the lawyers gather in rooms to begin the process of discovery – which is when each side gets to question the other sides witnesses on who did what when.  That process could take a month – and it is going to be very expensive.

Meed Ward plans monthly evening meetings that will be open to the public.  Because this isn’t a city created committee it won’t report to any of the city council committees.  It will probably have to rely on Meed Ward piping up at appropriate times and explaining what “her people”  have to say.  She may have them delegating the way she did as a citizen.

It all gets even a little fuzzier with Mayor Rick Goldring having said that he too was going to have a Waterfront Advisory Committee.  Mayors in the past have created committees to advise them, this is probably the first time the city has had a council member create a committee of citizens.

This is certainly a different approach for Burlington.  There will be people in the Mayor’s office scratching their heads over this one and asking: ‘Can she do this’?

It appears that Meed Ward is going to invite all the former members of the WAPA committee to join this new venture.   What are the odds on Leblovic serving on this new committee?

Meed Ward apparently “sees a long and bright future for the committee” .  Her office can be contacted on how to apply for the new waterfront citizens’ committee.


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