Tay Valley Township Defends Staff from Attacks
Tay Valley Township sent out an unusual media release early this week.
Titled “Tay Valley Township Defends Staff from Attacks”, the release begins with the following statement, :
“Tay Valley Township is currently dealing with a very unfortunate situation involving malicious
attacks on Staff and Council by various individuals in our community. These people have
chosen to use the internet to spread false accusations as well as resorting to verbal insults
and other attacks via printed material. Their baseless claims against the township are highly
personal, directed at several named employees and members of council, and go as far as
calling for specific staff to be fired.”
It goes on to quote outgoing the Tay Valley reeve, asserting that, “the municipal staff at Tay Valley Township strive each workday to serve the citizens of Tay Valley and the public interest, with professionalism and decency. Nonetheless, some of our staff have been subject to what can only be described as an organised campaign of vicious criticism and harassment, some of it online, some of it verbal such as over the phone, and some of it in hard-copy documentation. The township will not tolerate such behaviour and will take the action we deem necessary to help ensure a safe workplace for our staff.”
Without providing the url, Rainer referenced a website, which he said “contains a number of statements the township views as defamatory. The website falsely accuses staff of lying, election tampering and more.”
The media release points out that municipalities “cannot bring lawsuits against members of the public for defamation of staff. However, Rainer says, other options are being considered to address the township’s concerns.
While not confirmed by Rainer as of yet, it appears he is referring to a two-sided flyer that was slipped under windshield wipers of cars in the parking lot and on the road, at the Maberly Fair, this past Saturday. The website was referred to at the end of the flyer “tvtaccountability.ca”
The site includes both assertions of wrongdoing by senior staff, Chief Administrator Amanda Mabo in particular, as well as the township's integrity commissioner Tony Fleming, and others. It says that it is a “A citizen-led website created by local residents seeking greater transparency and clarity around township governance, council decisions, and administrative processes”.
Neither the flyer, nor the website, identify the citizens who create and update its content.
The site and flyer both talk about the township and the Blueberry Creek School, over a couple of issues.
The school is owned by Robin Mulcahy and has pitted her and her husband MP Scott Reid, against the township, costing the township over $500,000 in legal fees as the courts have sided with the Mulcahy and Scott.
A number of integrity commissioner complaints against township staff and council have been dismissed by Tony Fleming, a lawyer who serves as the integrity commissioner for Tay Valley and a number of other Ontario municipalities.
The website includes Fleming's decisions among its documentation, and also questions those decisions, dubbing Fleming, “CAO Amanda Mabo's integrity commissioner”, and alleging that because the law firm that Fleming works for also does legal work for the township, he should not be in that role.
Fleming's firm, Cunningham Swan LLP, provides legal services for other local townships where he serves as the integrity commissioner, including both Central and North Frontenac.
The site also provided information about increases in both taxation and staff compensation during the most recent term of council. The site says that taxes have gone up 30% over the last four years, and notes an increase of 56% in staff compensation, as the result of what it calls a flawed 2024 study.
Tax increases over the past few years have not been exclusive to Tay Valley, but Tay Valley is on the high side.
However, the 2026 tax rate in the township, including county and education taxes, is almost identical to the rate in two neighboring townships, Lanark Highlands and Westport, is slightly lower than the rate in North Frontenac, and significantly lower than the rate in both the town of Perth and Central Frontenac Township.
tvtaccountability.ca is not endorsing any political candidates in the current election, and includes a statement to that effect: “This site will not endorse or discourage support of any councillor or council candidate. It will only report verified facts.”
It does, however, include a report card on the performance of current members of council on the basis of how supportive they have been with the decisions made by the township on financial and other matters, with those supporting the current direction of Tay Valley receiving lower grades. Five of the eight current members of council, four of whom are seeking election, including candidates for reeve, deputy reeve and councillor, received a grade of F. The fifth is Reeve Rainer.
(Editors note – The Frontenac News is attempting to contact one or more of the people behind tvtaccountability.ca for comment.
