Several personality conflicts that have come to define this term of Mulmur Council came to a head at Tuesday’s meeting, with a dispute regarding an illegal greenhouse owned by Councillor Lynn Hilchey reaching a possible conclusion and, later, Township planner Ron Mills being given a raise after implying that he’s been the victim of workplace bullying.
With the gallery full and several people clearly set to use the morning question period to comment on the Hilchey situation, Mayor Paul Mills started the meeting with a plea for civility, stating he will no longer tolerate personal attacks from, or aimed at, Council members, staff members or ratepayers during Council meetings. Those who persisted in speaking negatively about others would be given one warning, he said; the next time, they’d be removed from Council chambers.
In Deputy Mayor Rhonda Campbell Moon’s opinion, one of the following question period participants warranted removal from the proceedings, but she failed to convince Mills and the rest of Council. Resident John Thomson, who raised Campbell Moon’s ire by questioning the ability of Councillor Hilchey to sit on the Township’s Planning Advisory Committee, Committee of Adjustment and Property Standards Committee when a staff report on the meeting’s agenda listed several ways in which her own property was not in compliance, was allowed to register his question but did not receive an answer. Another question, by Hilchey’s husband John regarding the professional qualifications of Township planner Ron Mills, was perhaps couched more delicately than it would have been before the Mayor’s warning.
When it came time to debate the matter of the Hilchey property, only Campbell Moon argued that Council should go against the advice of its planner and allow the Hilchey’s new greenhouse to remain in place (Hilchey herself had declared a conflict of interest and left the room while the subject was being discussed and voted on). As he had maintained at the previous Council meeting, planner Mills stated that the 27-by-60-foot greenhouse was “nowhere close” to meeting the Township’s zoning bylaw, which has labeled the property Rural Residential since 2002. John Hilchey’s assertion that, since several agricultural activities like the raising of chickens had been continuously taking place on the property since before that date, all uses allowed under the previous Agricultural zoning (as well and structures accessory to those uses) should now have legal, non-conforming status was incorrect, said Mills – new agricultural buildings, structures and uses are “simply not permitted.”
Campbell Moon called for compromise, stating that too often at Mulmur Council issues become “win-lose” situations, but the rest of Council spoke of the need for the Township’s zoning bylaw to be applied equally for all ratepayers.
“This was done the wrong way,” said Councillor Heather Hayes. “They were told that they couldn’t do this, and they went ahead and did it anyway. To allow it wouldn’t set a great precedent for the Township.”
With that, Council voted 3-1 to have the Dufferin County bylaw enforcement officer issue an order to have the greenhouse removed and several other property maintenance issues dealt with by October 31.
It’s uncertain what will happen next on the file, as Tuesday’s agenda package did include a letter from a lawyer working on behalf of John Hilchey stating an opinion that differed from that of planner Mills – an opinion that had the support of the Township solicitor.
Immediately following the Hilchey situation on the agenda was a request by planner Mills to have his contract with the Township reviewed. In addition to submitting a written request that stated his primary concern was that “over the past five years or so, I have been subjected to regular instances of abuse, intimidation and ridicule by a member of Council,” Mills handed two articles about workplace bullying to both Council and the audience and delivered a speech in which he said he was tired of having his qualifications, professionalism, and best intentions called into question.
“This environment is poisoned – we are a couple of teammates short of being a real team, and we’re being dragged deeper and deeper into the mud,” he said. “I feel that I, and collectively we as staff, Council and community, are being bullied.”
Mills did not mention any names, but later in the meeting Campbell Moon self-identified as one of the people being singled out as a “bully.” Indeed, at the end of the previous meeting, the Deputy Mayor publicly questioned the fact that Mills is not a member of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute.
While Mills said he was “tired of being discouraged and angry” and revealed that at times he felt like quitting, he said he wanted to be part of a solution to the problem, and to that end he requested that Council go behind closed doors to discuss “a possible solution” that had been devised by Township staff.
The resulting in camera meeting took place before Council broke for lunch, and at the end of the day Council voted to raise Mills’ rate of pay from $50 per hour to $75 per hour when the work he is doing is not cost-recoverable. His rate for cost-recoverable work and for OMB attendance will stay the same, at $80 per hour and $100 per hour respectively.
While what happened in the in camera meeting remains unknown, Mills did hint that the “solution” that he had hoped for was not agreed upon.
“I had intended to work for a lower rate if there was an indication of meaningful change,” said the planner after his pay raise was passed unanimously. “Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening.”