Frontenac County Council - May 23/13

Jeff Green | May 22, 2013

Councilor charges warden with influence peddling

Frontenac County Councilor David Jones upped the ante in his ongoing attacks against Frontenac County Warden Janet Gutowski last week by saying the warden used “tricks and influence peddling” to secure passage of the County budget on May 2.

To support his allegations, Jones quoted from an email that he would only say came from “a member of Council” who had changed his vote from between the March 20 meeting of Council when the budget was rejected by a 6-3 vote and the May 2 meeting when the vote was 7-2 in favour.

Jones said that in the email it was asserted that Warden Gutowski offered to cut the Fairmount Home budget by $130,000 and would step down as warden in exchange for a yes vote. However, the budget that was passed on May 2 did not include any changes in the Fairmount Home budget from the March 20 budget.

After making his assertions, Jones put forward a motion to strip Warden Gutowski of all her “rights and privileges as a member of County Council” and report the entire matter to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for a ruling on the charge of influence peddling.

In speaking against the motion, Warden Gutowski said that the allegations levied by David Jones were false.

“I have no authority to offer a cut in the Fairmount budget in exchange for a vote,” she said. “Only council can decide on a budget. And I have said all along that I will not necessarily remain as warden until the end of the term. Nothing has changed.”

Despite Gutowski's denials, Jones' motion passed, by a 4-3 vote. Councilors Doyle, Clayton, Jones, and McDougall supported it, and Councilors Inglis, Purdon, and Warden Gutowski did not. Gary Davison, who holds two votes on the Council as mayor of the largest township, was absent from the meeting.

Gutowski did not vacate her chair, however, carrying on with the meeting instead. This led Councilor Jones to intervene once again.

“Did something not happen there?” he asked. “That motion was passed."

CAO Liz Savill said that she would refer the matter to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing as the motion had ordered, but that “the other part of the motion is similar to the motion Council passed last year requesting that the warden resign. I can refer it to our legal council but the advice will likely be the same. Council does not have that kind of authority under the Municipal Act.”

David Jones wanted to keep discussing the matter, but at that point Warden Gutowski said “Councilor Jones, we will be moving on with the meeting now. If you won't stop with this, I invite you to leave the meeting.”

Gutowski also said that she will be consulting her solicitor about the statements that Jones had made about her.

In the end Jones remained and the meeting proceeded.

The News has subsequently confirmed that it was North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton who wrote the email that Councilor Jones referred to.

Clayton said he was surprised that the email had been brought up at Council. “It was not the warden who promised that the Fairmount budget would be cut,” Clayton told the News. “After the March 20 vote on the budget, I met with Julie Shillington [Administrator of Farimount Home] Liz Savill [CAO] and Marian Vanbruinessen [Treasurer] at the County offices. Janet Gutowski was not there in person, but she attended through a conference call. I had certain concerns about the Fairmount budget and operations, concerns I do not want to divulge publicly. There were commitments made about changes at the home, which had financial implications. It was not the warden who made those commitments,” Clayton said.

Clayton added that he expected there would be changes to the budget as the result of his meeting, but he supported the budget on May 2 even though there were no changes.

“At that point, I thought we needed to get a budget passed,” he said.

For her part, Warden Gutowski denies making any commitments to Clayton or anyone else, and said she is indeed consulting her solicitor with regard not only to Councilor Jones' comments, but also to the four members of County Council who voted in favour of the motion of censure against her

Frontenac County to look at reserves – millions on the line

Frontenac County Council will meet on June 5 to discuss how it handles its reserve funds. The debate will be framed by a report by Treasurer Marian Vanbruinessen that was presented to members of county council last week.

The largest pool of money to be considered sits in the county's working fund reserve – which is projected to contain $4.5 million by the end of 2013.

In the report, Vanbruinessen says “In the past, councils have seen the surplus in the working fund reserve as a savings account for future requirements, although the Treasurer has consistently indicated the need for its review in the context of long term planning."

She recommends that the working fund reserve be set at $2.15 million, approximately 5% of the annual county budget.

The remaining $2.4 million could go towards long term regional projects such as rural transportation, water, waste water, or seniors' housing. It could also go towards any number of energy projects or community improvement initiatives.

There is another possibility that is identified in the report.

“If, on the other hand, council has no interest in identifying these or other issues on a regional basis, the remaining funds should be redistributed to the townships,” said the report.