Stouffville council 'buries hatchets' in closed meeting

Mayor returns from Alberta for special session

Yorkregion.com
Nov. 10, 2015
By Sandra Bolan

“I want (to) ensure the residents of Whitchurch-Stouffville that tonight at 8:56 p.m. all hatchets have been buried. A year of learning has been accomplished. A direction has been chosen and a united fresh perspective that is shared unanimously by all members of council and staff is and will be implemented,” stated a portion of Mayor Justin Altmann’s Facebook page, following a special in-camera meeting last night.

At 6:02 p.m. Nov. 6, yorkregion.com/the Stouffville Sun-Tribune received an email from the municipality regarding a special council meeting that would take place Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.

“Purpose of the meeting is to discuss an in-camera item, re: Personal matter about an identifiable individual (Municipal Act, Sec. 239 (2) (b),” stated the notice.

“The Municipal Act allows us to do that,” Ward 3 Councillor Hugo Kroon told yorkregion.com Tuesday morning. “We can only talk about identifiable people in-camera. We have no other option. The Municipal Act requires that.”

In-camera meetings are closed to the public.

Kroon, along with councillors Ken Ferdinands, Iain Lovatt and Rick Upton, called the meeting. Altmann was in Alberta on vacation but came back for the meeting. Councillor Maurice Smith was out of town and not in attendance.

The “identifiable person” has yet to be revealed

“This was an in-camera meeting and matters discussed in-camera are confidential and there was no report out.

Period. So there’s nothing to discuss,” Marc Pourvahidi, CAO for the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, told yorkregion.com earlier today.

In-camera meetings, either about identifiable individuals or legal matter happen regularly in Whitchurch-Stouffville, although typically after a regularly scheduled council meeting.

For this particular meeting, 28 people came to the council chambers. Many waited in the lobby of the Sandiford Drive Municipal Offices while councilors spoke behind the closed doors of the council chambers.

“I don’t know why all of a sudden people got involved in the in-camera meeting,” Pourvahidi said.

Another in-camera meeting, not after a council meeting, was held prior to the Easter long weekend, however, there was no one from the general public in attendance.

What the CAO thinks may have attributed to the unusual amount of interest in last night’s meeting was the rumour mill.

“There is something about these rumours I can’t put my hands on,” he said.

Pourvahidi is aware of the mayor’s Facebook post but has not read it or other posts to social media since he took the job in March because “I would like to make my decisions independently, not based on those (social media opinions). Some of them are invalid.”

Pourvahidi further stated anytime there has been an issue that is of benefit to the general public, the municipality has been “up front” about it.

“I just hope everyone works based on factual items. The rumour mill doesn’t help anybody, just causes more harm,” he said.

Looking for more information, former Whitchurch-Stouffville mayor Sue Sherban took to Twitter.

The only response she received from council was from Lovatt, who posted the link to Altmann’s Facebook message and this: “@Sue_Sherban @ws_townhall You should have stayed until the end to hear the outcome. It was a productive meeting with a United outcome.”

At the end of the meeting, Altmann said much of what he posted on Facebook, according to Kroon.

The next meeting of council is scheduled for Nov. 17 at 7 p.m.