Only a day after Peterborough city council had voted to defer an update on the project to renovate and expand the city’s police stations that included a $25.4 million increase to the project budget, councillors reversed course and voted to approve the update following an unexpected move into closed session.
Meeting as general committee on Tuesday evening (September 2), council had considered a report from the city’s finance and corporate support services commissioner Richard Freymond that described four changes to the approved budget that would result in the $25.4 million budget increase, including an additional 15,000 square feet of space at a cost of $7.125 million, a new parking garage beside the Water Street police station at a cost of $2.4 million, energy and building efficiency measures at a cost of $4.375 million, and an additional $11.5 million to cover the $15.5 million purchase cost of the Lansdowne Street West property.
After police chief Stuart Betts and Eric Riddell, partner and architect at Shoalts and Zaback Architects, made a presentation to council and answered questions, councillor Alex Bierk put forward a motion to defer the report back to city staff for details on what costs are related to mandatory versus discretionary requirements.
“Before we commit taxpayers to this astronomical budget increase, we need clarity,” Bierk said during the meeting. “We need to know exactly which project elements are required by law and which are discretionary choices, and we need to make sure the police project stands on its own, with its own budget and cap, not to be tied up with other city ambitions for the site.”
After some debate, council 6-5 in favour of Bierk’s motion, with he and councillors Joy Lachica, Matt Crowley, Keith Riel, Dave Haacke, and Andrew Beamer voting in favour and Mayor Jeff Leal and councillors Lesley Parnell, Kevin Duguay, Gary Baldwin, and Don Vassiliadis voting against.
Bierk’s motion was up for final approval at the regular city council meeting on Wednesday night (September 3), following four hours of delegations and discussion on a zoning by-law amendment for a 17-storey building in East City.
When the motion was about to be considered after 10 p.m., Bierk called the question just as councillor Baldwin put forward a motion to move the discussion into closed session, referring to an unspecified matter of solicitor-client privilege and related communications. If calling the question was approved, council would have immediately voted on Bierk’s motion prior to moving into closed session.
Council voted 4-7 against calling the question, with councillors Bierk, Lachica, Beamer, and Riel voting in favour and Mayor Leal and councillors Crowley, Vassiliadis, Haacke, Parnell, Duguay, and Baldwin voting against.
Baldwin then was able to proceed with his motion to move into closed session, where the discussion is not available to the public, with council voting unanimously in support of the motion.
Around half an hour later, councillors Bierk, Lachica, and Riel left the closed session.
When council reconvened in chambers, debate resumed on councillor Bierk’s motion followed by a vote. The motion lost 5-6, with councillor Haacke switching his vote from Tuesday night’s general committee meeting when he had supported Bierk’s motion.
Councillors then voted 7-4 to approve the original main motion, with councillor Crowley — who had voted twice in favour of Bierk’s motion — joining Haacke to support the main motion. Councillors Bierk, Lachica, Riel, and Beamer voted against the motion.
On Thursday (September 4), councillor Bierk provided kawarthaNOW with a statement as to why he left the closed session after around 30 minutes, along with Riel. Lachica had already left the closed session around 10 minutes after it started.
“We got railroaded last night in our attempt to defer the police renovations budget,” Bierk said. “Council was pulled into an unplanned closed session, and when the discussion shifted from solicitor-client privileged advice to discussing my motion, I left.”
“I believe those conversations and other elements of what happened — which I am not at liberty to discuss — were completely out of order and should have taken place as part of the public debate.”
The approval of the main motion means city council is approving the $25.4 million increase to the project budget, for a total estimated budget of $91.9 million — an increase of over 38 per cent from the originally approved budget of $66.4 million.
This story has been updated to clarify that councillors Bierk and Riel left the closed session around 20 minutes after Lachica had already left.
