July 28 meeting also provided an update on Covered Bridge Potato Chip plant issues
The July 28 Woodstock Town Council meeting started with a pledge.
“I want everyone to know we are here for you,” said Mayor Jeff Wright. “We are here to listen. If you want to contact us about issues, if you want to contact your councillors in your wards about issues, just simply send an e-mail to town hall, and it will be addressed, and you will be invited to speak with any of us. We’re willing and open and honest and ready to serve you.”
Mining update
Woodstock Town Council had begun the process of reaching out to concerned parties about holding a meeting to update the public on the activities of a couple of mining operations with interests in the area. Since reaching out, both Canadian Manganese and Manganese X have expressed an interest in presenting to the council privately through a special meeting first.
“I talked personally to David Alward [who works with Canadian Manganese], and he said he would like to have a half hour of our time, some evening,” said Mayor Jeff Wright. “I think it would be good for us to get up to speed.”
The Town had received correspondence from several concerned citizens. Councillor John Dolimount mentioned that, in addition to addressing those concerns with the companies, he felt it was important to give those citizens the latest update as well.
“We should contact folks and tell them the reason we’re not getting back to them. We’re waiting for a little bit more information. We’re going to have a special meeting,” said Councillor Dolimount. “Just keep them informed as we move forward.”
Police Services Standing Committee
“What this allows us to do is have a smaller subgroup have the conversations with the chief and deputy chief of police about policy, strategy, governance, budgeting, rather than having to bring it all back to council in an open meeting,” explained CAO Allan Walker. “It can be done in a subset, and then that work can be brought back [before council].”
During Woodstock’s Town Council meeting on July 28, council delegated authority to the members of the newly formed Police Services Standing Committee. Those members are Mayor Jeff Wright, Deputy Mayor Mark Rogers, Councillor Keith Bull, and Councillor John Dolimount. The committee will work with support from the CAO, the town clerk, and legal counsel, and will report back to council as needed.
Covered Bridge Chips update
“Our mission there was to listen to and add any perspective to the residents,” said Councillor John Dolimount.
Councillor Dolimount spoke to his fellow councillors about a meeting that he attended with a few of the residents of the Charles Street subdivision, along with Mayor Jeff Wright and Councillor Scott Dunlop. The meeting, held on July 16, was an opportunity for residents to share their ongoing concerns and for the Mayor to give them the most current update he had received from CAO Allan Walker regarding some of the efforts Covered Bridge Potato Chips had been making.
The residents gave the council documents outlining their main concerns and suggested actions they would like the town to take. They expressed several worries, including the steepness of the hill being a risk to children playing and the lack of fencing. Residents seemed pleased when informed about the town’s continued efforts to pursue a reliable form of noise monitoring.
Councillor Dolimount said that Mayor Wright expressed his empathy to the group. He acknowledged their concerns and promised to continue working with the regional services commission and to communicate with them on the matter.
“Basically, they are still concerned as residents with respect to how the company is acting,” explained Dolimount. “They just wanted us to know their feelings and how they felt about the way that they were being treated, from their point of view.”
Decorative crosswalk request
“We are an inclusive society, and I think the events of the world these days highlight that. I’m very much in favour of the bylaw committee having a look at bringing it back to council and looking forward to that conversation in the future,” said Councillor Dolimount.
The Town of Woodstock has received correspondence from several different organizations requesting specially decorated crosswalks. Mayor Jeff Wright noted that they’ve received a few requests representing veterans.
Currently, there isn’t a bylaw regarding decorating sidewalks. The Council discussed and eventually agreed to have the bylaw committee look into creating a detailed policy that would outline who could apply, how they could go about it, when and how long the sidewalk designs were expected to last and what other provisions should be included.
Councillor Arthur Slipp mentioned that they used to have painted sidewalks during his mayorship, but they moved away from it because they found them problematic to create and maintain.
“I know other municipalities have done them. I just wonder whether they have better paint than what we did at that particular point in time?” Counsellor Slipp inquired.
CAO Walker suggested that the bylaw committee could reach out to public works and other interested parties as well as look at how it’s been handled by other communities. He also recommended that they seek legal counsel as part of the process.
“One has to be very clear and very consistent. If you’re going to include something and exclude something, one has to be very careful about the ground they’re on,” cautioned Walker. “You could be subject to discrimination charges, so you need to be very, very careful about how you do this and do it correctly.”
Counsellor Dolimount said he was in favour of taking a careful look at how other municipalities have found respectful and considered ways to handle this matter before moving forward.
“I, for one, as a resident of this town, didn’t appreciate the way it was dealt with before. I’m going to be perfectly honest with you, I was embarrassed with the way it was dealt with before,” said Dolimount. “I understand there’s a reason why, but I think we can get ahead of this by having a fulsome conversation about it.”
“I will take a little bit of offence to that, but we’ll discuss it in committee at a later date,” said Deputy Mayor Mark Rogers.
Council meeting time has been moved to 6:30 p.m., beginning at their next session scheduled for Tuesday, August 11.
