WatCH Niagara Falls

09/10/2021

Thanks to A Better Niagara for this post! We will be WatCHing Tuesday's council meeting to see how this plays out. Looks like it's going to be a long one judging by some of the items in the agenda. Make sure you pour yourself a drink, make yourself a bowl of popcorn, and join us Tuesday!

Is what’s good for the goose also good for the gander at Niagara Falls Council? We will know on Tuesday, September 14th when the NF Council gets to vote on what punishment they will mete out to Councillor Chris Dabrowski for contravening the City’s Code of Conduct by publicly disclosing information from an in-camera meeting.

In June 2017, an Integrity Commissioners’ report found that NF Councillor Carolynn Ioannoni had done the same — and Council threw the book at her, despite the IC’s recommendation that she receive a reprimand.

Instead, Councillor Vince Kerrio made a motion to: remove her from all committees; dock her three months pay; allow staff to decline to answer her questions; required her to apologize to members of Council, staff and the public; ask for her resignation and; contact the Minister of Municipal Affairs to ask for a change of rules to the Municipal Act that would allow for the removal of a Councillor from office for breaching confidentiality. It passed.

Now the shoe is on a male Councillor’s foot. Will Council demonstrate the same outrage? Will they dock pay, suggest removal from office, ask for staff to shun him, ban him for committees, or is it only female Councillors who get dragged to the public whipping post and lashed?

To see Kerrio’s motions from the 2017 Council meeting go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM4v-dUkPRE and start watching at the 4.06.31 minute mark

To watch the September 14th, 4 p.m. Council meeting where the IC report on Councillor Dabrowski will be discussed go here: https://niagarafalls.ca/city-hall/council/schedule.aspx

09/07/2021

Did you know that there is a Municipal Conflict of Interest Act? In it it states there is specific duties of each member of council and/or municipal boards.

Duty of Member
When present at meeting at which matter considered

5 (1) Where a member, either on his or her own behalf or while acting for, by, with or through another, has any pecuniary interest, direct or indirect, in any matter and is present at a meeting of the council or local board at which the matter is the subject of consideration, the member,

(a) shall, prior to any consideration of the matter at the meeting, disclose the interest and the general nature thereof;

(b) shall not take part in the discussion of, or vote on any question in respect of the matter; and

(c) shall not attempt in any way whether before, during or after the meeting to influence the voting on any such question. R.S.O. 1990, c. M.50, s. 5 (1).

Do you feel that current elected officials and designated members of municipal boards are upholding these regulations? As council passed the vote to now charge $500 for an Integrity Complaint, it is more difficult to make sure your representatives uphold standards. We would like to know, what grade would you give your elected (and non-elected) officials on upholding their Integrity?

Full link to Ontario’s Municipal Conflict of Interest Act:
https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90m50

Cartoon credit:
https://alexhughescartoons.co.uk/2004/12/there-is-no-conflict-of-interest/

08/12/2021

Councillor Carolynn Ioannoni says on her page: "That has to stop. It’s not ok. We need more women in politics and we definitely need more women around the table at NF city council. That is not going to happen by letting comments like those made by Councillor Kerrio go unchallenged. This is not a small matter blown out of context. It is outright misogyny and gaslighting and it is wrong. Period!!"

Read the related article here for further details:
https://www.iheartradio.ca/610cktb/1.15828772?fbclid=IwAR3R8RAV1nV-qpfCP62OPMz5zMmN9nMm-wU82GIRDBfSXPACy0GRcoMnBPg

So what do you think?

08/09/2021

Don't forget there's a council meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, Aug. 10th) beginning at 1pm! It's gonna be a hot day so this is a great excuse to sit indoors and stare at your screen if you're not working. These 1PM meetings do make it difficult for people who work days to watch, but I guess you can catch up later if you really want to.

On the agenda is an interesting update regarding the Grandview Inn and related properties, and of course the current Park St. soil remediation.

There are a ton of financial updates to cover, including a proposed parking fine increase for January 2022.

So 1PM Tuesday! Will we see you there?

07/13/2021

Don't forget there's a Council meeting at 1pm today! If you can't make it, don't worry; we'll update you as soon as we can!

There are a lot of really interesting topics to cover this afternoon:

Front yard vegetable gardens look to be a go, so long as they're not enclosed.
Council will begin the process to rename Ryerson Cres and there's a request to declare Sept. 30-Oct. 7 as "Residential School Remembrance Week" (but still haven't offered up a land acknowledgement).
There's a completed Code of Conduct complaint and an Ombudsmen's report.
There's the new official Flag Policy.
We'll also hear Councilor Pietrangelo report on a potential housing development on the Dunn St. surplus lands.
And of course the Downtown BIA is asking for more money (because doubling their levy simply wasn't enough to fix the issues downtown!)

What topic are you most interested in?

Here's the YouTube link for you - see you there!

Niagara Falls City Council Meeting for July 13, 2021. View the agenda here: https://niagarafalls.ca/councilvideos

06/24/2021

After today’s news….we thought we’d re-share this little gem.
We hope more people are WatCHing…..

https://www.iheartradio.ca/610cktb/1.15487927

06/01/2021

Today's the day we've all been waiting for!

No, it's not Election Day, don't be silly!

Will Detective Murdoch solve the mystery? Will the Kids in the (City) Hall play by the rules? Will the entire Council be slimed?!
City Council meeting starts at 4PM, or later depending on how long the in-camera session takes.

Let us know below if you'll be watching with us.

City Council Schedules for the Niagara Falls Council Meetings

05/31/2021

Perhaps Detective Murdoch can solve this mystery from the next Council Meeting: the Integrity Commissioner’s yearly bill from April 2020 to April 2021 is $97,595. We’d love to see the breakdown of these costs; ADR Chambers states it’s “for the investigation and adjudication process as well as the responses to Requests for Advice and advice in connection with amendments to the Code.”

This is particularly interesting as last year the bill was only $25,462 and ADR Chambers claimed “While this amount is significant, it is not, in my experience totally out of range for Municipalities of comparable size. It should be remembered however that it does not include any charges for work in process during the year under review which had not been completed or billed. As Council is aware, there were a number of matters which fell within this category and which will form part of our next Annual Report.”

Will Detective Murdoch uncover the mystery before the meeting ends, or will we be left to wonder why the bill is nearly four times the amount it was last year?