It’s hard to keep up with the swirl of developments at McNab-Braeside Council concerning the status of Mark MacKenzie, confirmed elected as Township Mayor on October 24th, 2022.
MacKenzie has unilaterally absented himself from the position- and that decision, not spoken to in the provisions of Ontario’s present Municipal Act, is within his prerogative to do so.
myFM spoke with MacKenzie at our studios April 12th and asked the Mayor about finding this loophole which allowed his declaration.
Documents in the agenda package for Council’s regular meeting of April 16th indicate members received a written statement of his intention to step back from his role on April 1st- but MacKenzie says this can’t be made public, in that third parties are named in his memo.
Mackenzie says he felt a subsequent clarification memo was in order.
In 2021, MacKenzie believes Township Hall construction contributed to a $3.2 million dollar budget mis-statement locally.
He believes there are similarities between Renfrew’s Mateway expansion, and construction costs in the Township.
According to MacKenzie, to continue in the role as head of Council while he suspects irregularities makes him personally responsible for any perceived malfeasances.
If we put precedents from the neighbours’ yard aside, MacKenzie says it’s his opinion the lack of a pre-game huddle at staff level has contributed to inefficiencies in the way meetings are run.
Meantime, McNab-Braeside Council is moving ahead in coping with his withdrawal from duties- as agenda items at Tuesday’s forthcoming municipal meeting will deal with a resident survey MacKenzie initiated without his peers’ knowledge, a proposed (non-binding) vote of non-confidence in his leadership, and a recommendation to strip him of all assigned or ex-officio Township Board and Committee duties- but leaves any roles associated with County of Renfrew official duties intact.
One item of MacKenzie’s authorship is a motion that will require a seconder to be discussed.
Tuesday’s Township meeting begins at 6PM in Council Chambers on Russett Drive and is live-streamed on YouTube.
By Rick Stow