The Town of Fort Frances will be deemed as in a lame duck period following tonight’s meeting of town council.
According to the Municipal Act, a council enters into a lame duck period when it is determined that three quarters, or 75 percent of existing council members will not be returning to their office following an upcoming election. Once that period begins, council is prohibited from undertaking certain actions in order to prevent an outgoing council from operating in a way that would disadvantage the next, incoming council.
According to a report prepared by Town of Fort Frances municipal clerk Gabrielle Lecuyer, the lame duck period occurs twice over the course of the municipal election period: once between nomination day and the end of the current term, which this year spans from August 19, 2022 to November 14, 2022, and then once again from voting day to the end of term, (October 24, 2022 to November 14, 2022).
“Between Nomination Day to the end of the current term… if less than six of the seven (75 percent) existing members are not running for Council, then Council will be restricted in its actions and be deemed lame duck,” Lecuyer wrote.
“From Voting Day to the end of the current term, to determine if a lame duck happens after voting day the question will be: will the new Council be composed of six of the seven (75 percent) of the incumbent (Old) Council, and if the answer is ‘yes’ then there is no lame duck. If the answer is ‘no’ then council will be restricted in its actions and be lame duck.”
Of the current sitting council, only four members are seeking re-election, with councillors Mike Behan, Wendy Brunetta, John McTaggart looking to take on a second term on council, and Andrew Hallikas throwing his name into the ring for mayor.
The municipal act sets out that during a lame duck period, councils are prohibited from several actions including:
- the appointment or removal from office of any officer of the municipality,
- the hiring or dismissal of any employee from the municipality,
- the disposition of any real or personal property of the municipality which has a value exceeding $50,000 at the time of disposal, and
- making any expenditures or incurring any other liability which exceeds $50,000
Fort Frances town council enacted a by-law that will delegate authority to the town’s CAO Faisal Anwar for certain acts during the lame duck period, including signing for expenditures exceeding $50,000, executing “agreements of Purchase and Sale, pertaining to the disposition of any real or personal property of the municipality which has a value exceeding $50,000 at the time of disposal for the acquisition of property” and being able to hire or dismiss any employee of the Town of Fort Frances.
Also on tonight’s agenda, council will receive a deputation from Justyna Garpos, project manager at WSP Canada Inc., regarding the town’s new Official Plan and Comprehensive Zoning By-Law review.
In documents attached to the agenda for tonight;’s meeting, the presentation notes that an officla plan is “a planning policy document that sets out a vision, guiding principles, and land use policies to guide growth and development in a municipality,” while the zoning by-law is a legal document that regulates the use of land and build form, and “implements the land use objectives and policies of a community’s Official Plan and helps manage conflicts between land uses.” The town’s current Official Plan was adopted by Council in 2011 and received Ministerial Approval in December 2012, making it more than 10 years old and ready for updating.
Developing a new Official Plan is done with engagement and input from the municipality itself along with technical agencies, as well as Indigenous and local communities.
The plan for establishing the new Official Plan is broken down into six separate phases of work, stretching from the initiation of the project and a background review, all the way to the final Comprehensive Zoning by-Law and adoption by the new council. In hat period of time, it is also expected that there will be a number of meetings of town staff, technical advisory committee, council and Indigenous communities, as well as several in-person public open houses to gather input from the residents of Fort Frances. The current timeline provided lists Late Fall 2022 as the estimated goal line for the draft policy and recommendations report to the council of the Town of Fort Frances.
Tonight’s council and administration meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Fort Frances Civic Centre. The meeting is open to in-person attendees, and a link to the virtual livestream is available on the Town of Fort Frances website.
