Rosehart calls for better communication to council

Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Following two events attended by part, but not all, of town councillors, Coun. Chris Rosehart called for better communication about events.

Rosehart presented a motion,“That staff be directed to notify council of any events in which the town is to participate in an official capacity” at the Dec. 9 meeting. She explained there was a team representing the town in the Tillsonburg Curling Club’s Community Service bonspiel with Councillors Bob Parsons, Pete Luciani and Kelly Spencer, as well as former Fire Chief Shane Caskenette.

“I would have loved to have been there to cheer them on,” Rosehart said, adding she didn’t know about the event.

She also mentioned the dedication of a purple bench that was part of an initiative to deal with domestic violence, which only included Spencer. The concept of the purple bench was presented to all of council, but Spencer brought forward a motion that the town proceed with the initiative.

Spencer said an e-mail went out about the purple bench and she wasn’t sure the curling team was a town event.

Rosehart questioned if the curling registration was paid by the town, which she didn’t get an answer to.

Coun. Chris Parker also asked who paid for the registration fee and what the name of the team was.

Luciani agreed that sometimes he isn’t aware of other events.

Mayor Deb Gilvesy said she always tries to share invitations, but in these cases, she didn’t receive an invitation either. She said staff can only send notification if they were aware, and she understood staff wasn’t aware of these events.

Director of Corporate Services/Clerk Tanya Daniels said she isn’t aware of an official policy on this, but emphasized staff needs to be aware in order to share the information.

Following a back-and-forth exchange between Rosehart and Spencer about councillors sharing information, Gilvesy said, “It’s moving forward, let’s forget about yesterday. Let’s move to tomorrow and let’s try to communicate.”

The motion passed with all in favour of it.