North Frontenac Councillor Stephanie Regent Sanctioned By Council Over Facebook Posts
Based on the findings of Tony Fleming, the township's integrity commissioner, North Frontenac Council approved the suspension of Councillor Stephanie Regent for a period of 7 days.
The report was filed with Fleming on August 8th.
It asserted that, in the words of Fleming's final report, “Councillor Stephanie Regent (the “Member”) had breached the Code of Conduct related to comments made on Facebook related to affordable housing and the Economic Development Task Force (EDTF)”
The complaint centred on a series of Facebook posts that Regent made between May 16 and May 24 of this year.
The posts were about affordable housing and the role of the township's Economic Development Task Force (EDTF) in advancing an agenda to address the issue.
The township pulled affordable housing from the EDTF and established an affordable housing task force to report directly to Council at the end of this time period, but the complaint centred on how Regent characterised what happened at meetings that preceded that change.
It all started on April 22, when Mayor Lichty attended an EDTF meeting. Regent was chair of the EDTF at that time. At Lichty's urging, affordable housing was removed from the EDTF work plan at the meeting.
On May 12, at a full council, the minutes of the EDTF meeting were accepted by Council, effectively accepting the new work plan.
Councillor Regent voted in favour of accepting the minutes, and stated later that she only intended to approve the minutes, not the work plan. She made no further comment about the matter at the May 12 meeting.
On May 16, she posted “If you are interested in working on an affordable housing project, please reach out. It is no longer an item on the work plan for the EDTF but it is still a priority for me as your councillor”, and on May 24, she posted (in relation to the removal of affordable housing from the workplan of the EDTF): “How did this happen? Who made these suggestions? How did it get approved? In good conscience, I cannot allow these changes to go unnoticed or buried in the mins of the next council mtg on June 12th. How can the validity of an EDTF be questioned?”
She made two other posts, on May 18 and May 24.
Tony Fleming found that the assertion on May 16 is misleading because she was telling the public that,“affordable housing is important to her, but not to Council”
Fleming also found that the post on May 24 was misleading because Regent was present at meetings where the matters were discussed and did not raise any objections at the time.
Regent did remove the posts, which Fleming said was a mitigating factor, but also said the following, after hearing Councillor Regent's response to the allegations in the complaint: “In her responses, the member defended her statements and considered many of them to be factual. While certain statements were technically speaking true, the overall narrative and tone of the posts, including statements that were not true, positioned the member as the lone voice on council, advocating for affordable housing – knowing that this was not true.”
“Where the Code of Conduct directs members to be truthful, politicians must accept that direction and abide by it,” Fleming concluded, and then recommended the 7 day suspension.
When Fleming's report came to Council last week, Deputy Reeve Huetl said that he understood Council had no option but to accept the recommended penalty, and Clerk Tara Mieske, said that the recommendations in the report are no different from any staff recommendation to Council, they can be accepted as is, amended, or rejected.
Council accepted the Fleming report, thus imposing the 7 day suspension, with no further comment.
Councillor Regent was not present at the council meeting on December 12, nor did she participate in the special budget meeting in December. She attended the regular meeting on November 24, via zoom.
The Frontenac News has been attempting to set up an interview with Stephanie Regent about her relationship with Council, and the mayor, ever since late June, when Mayor Lichty made comments at a council meeting about her commitment to her job as a councillor, in relation to her role as council liaison to the Lakelands Family Health Team.
Back and forth emails attempting to set up an in-person meeting continued off and on, until as late as Sunday of this week, but we have not been able to make the necessary arrangements.
Long Service Awards for Township Staff
The annual service awards were handed out at the meeting, and two fire fighters dwarfed all the other awards.
Richard Tryon has been a member of the Kaladar Barrie Fire Department for 50 years. Along with other Kaladar Barrie firefighters Shayne Macarther (15 years) and Dave Avery and Nicholas Cook (10 years), he will receive his certificate at the Addington Highlands Council meeting in late December. Stan Seitz received his 45 year certificate as a member of the North Frontenac Fire Department. Among the other recipients were Teegan Wise, 15 years with the township roads department, John Inglis, 15 years as a member of council, Nicholas Ross, 10 years on North Frontenac Fire, Darwyn Sproule, 10 years on the roads department, and Jean Wemp, 10 years in administration.
Good News – Plenva Rink Update
Manager of Community Development Brooke Ross reported that a number of elements in the Plevna Rink reconstruction project have been completed, including; demolition, hoe ramming, tree clearing, concrete pad preparation and pouring, and securing a contractor for rink board installation, which is scheduled for this month.
The roof design and construction contract was tendered unsuccessfully in September, as no submissions came in. As a result the township has had an engineered drawing prepared and a new tender will be issued in January, in the hope of a spring start to that part of the project.
Less Good News – EV Charging Station
Brooke Ross also submitted a report on the cost of operating the EV charging station at the township office. After considerable effort and some success in obtaining savings, the station has still run an overall deficit of over $8,000 since being installed in April. Ross's preliminary estimate, which is a bit of a rough estimate because the station has not yet been in place for a full year, is that operating it will cost the township about $1,000 a month, or $14,400 a year, until the use increases, if and when more EV traffic comes into the township.
But given it is a service for residents and tourists alike, raises the profile of the township, the deficit could decrease in future years if the usage picks up, and most importantly, would necessitate the pay back of a large grant if shuttered before running for five years, Ross recommended keeping the two charger stations up and running.
Council accepted the recommendation. Councillor Wayne Good, the most vocal opponent of the charging station, had left the meeting to attend to a personal matter before this item came up on the agenda.
Food Bank
Council received a letter from the Land O'Lakes Food Bank about the pending loss of its operating space at the Cloyne Public Health Office as of March 1st, the same letter that was received by Addington Highlands Council a week earlier. Mayor Lichty and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Cory Klatt will be meeting with the mayor and CAO of Addington Highlands soon to discuss the matter.
The March 1st deadline may be changed, however. The Board of the Southeast Public Health Unit voted to suspend closure plans for the Cloyne at their meeting on November 27. The Board asked Health Unit staff to bring a report justifying the closure to their next meeting, which is scheduled for this week.
