Renfrew’s Town Council has reaffirmed its position on the status of Mayor Tom Sidney.
Council voted 5 to 1 in favour of requesting the Mayor resign from his position due to what the passed motion describes as “serious incompetence and other wrongdoing” found in the Ma-te-Way Expansion Project’s third-party review.
Councillor Kyle Cybulski would bring the motion forward on Tuesday night. He noted that previous council, including Sidney, the former Parks and Recreation Chair, neglected their duty to Renfrew’s taxpayers.
Most of the council group, including Jason Legris, pointed to significant oversight from Sidney and previous council that led to a number of issues outlined in last week’s final report from WSCS Consulting.
Councillor John McDonald would concur with the comments a resident recently made to council, noting the honourable thing would be for Sidney to step aside.
The lone vote against, Reeve Peter Emon expressed concerns over whether the sanctions against Sidney would ever be lifted and noting that he does not believe that it would be the proper way to establish discipline. He was also unsure if similar sanctions would be levied against other members of the current council should they run into difficulties while performing their duties.
Chief Administrative Officer Rob Tremblay was asked by council to clarify that the vote would not force Mayor Sidney out of his role and that he would continue representing the town at official functions and presiding over council meetings.
He explained that “under the Municipal Act, Council does not have the authority to remove another sitting member.” Rather, the vote is a way for members of Council to express their position, similar to the non-confidence motion against Mayor Sidney that passed back in January.
Council would follow up with another major move, passing two separate motions calling for the removal of the Mayor and Reeve from external committees, working groups, and boards effective immediately, noting that Reeve Emon shared responsibility as the head of Renfrew’s Human Resources committee and a member of the Ma-te-Way Expansion Project’s ad hoc committee.
Emon will remain on all County of Renfrew-associated bodies.
(written by Kasey Egan)