Tara Jeffrey Coun. Bill Dennis led a special council meeting with an apology to his colleagues and the citizens of Sarnia, Friday, following an outburst that led to the abrupt ending of the Oct. 16 regular meeting . https://youtu.
Tara Jeffrey
Coun. Bill Dennis led a special council meeting with an apology to his colleagues and the citizens of Sarnia, Friday, following an outburst that led to the abrupt ending of the Oct. 16 regular meeting.
“Citizens of Sarnia… deserve better than what I gave them during the last public meeting,” Dennis stated. “I failed them; I failed you.
“I want to apologize to my colleagues, the staff, and Mayor Bradley,” he continued. “My behaviour was unprofessional to say the least.”
The special meeting was held Friday to deal with city business that should have been completed Oct.16, when, in an unprecedented move, council left chambers without dealing with eight notices of motion, without approving the minutes, addressing routine approvals, civic reports or passing any bylaws.
That meeting derailed after Dennis repeatedly criticized both the mayor and Greg McConkey, a member of the environmental advisory committee who was speaking to council about the federal carbon tax.
“I want to apologize to Mr. McConkey – that got personal,” said Dennis, who continued to argue in the foyer at city hall following the Oct. 16 meeting, including an encounter with a couple, that was recorded on video.
“I want to apologize to that couple that I had words with in the lobby; they were being kind to me.”
“I am an emotional person,” Dennis also said. “And sometimes, I don’t have a politician’s filter; sometimes it can benefit me, but sometimes it can get me into trouble.
“I know things can get a little emotional and heated at times, but they should never get to that level.”
Dennis concluded with a plea to the public to earn back his trust.
“I embarrassed myself, I embarrassed council, and I embarrassed the city,” he said.
“And for that I am truly, truly regretful.”
The events prompted a motion from Coun. Brian White, who, later in Friday’s meeting, requested that staff explore safety measures that may need to be implemented in council chambers.
“Those folks who have reached out to me have made it very clear that events like that really highlight a gap that we have here in the chamber — and that is a lack of security,” White stated, adding that “thankfully it wasn’t a physical confrontation in the chamber.”
“I think it’s also important that we send a signal to residents that this chamber is for them; it is their right to attend here, not only to view the meetings in a safe and respectful manner, but it is their right to come and speak and have their voices heard.
“Anything we can do to further that safety only enhances the democratic process that we’ve all agreed to sign up for and that we participate in.”
Coun. Terry Burrell called White’s motion a ‘knee-jerk reaction.’
“When you start doing all the reports and then people get paid to come forward with all kinds of wild stories… so somebody gets more money for providing security and we have to have all kinds of scanners at the doors and all that kind of nonsense…”
“I think we should just shut this down now — something happened, people apologized, we should just move on.”
Councillors Adam Kilner, Chrissy McRoberts, Anne Marie Gillis and White voted in favour, while Councillors Dave Boushy, George Vendenburg, Dennis and Burrell opposed.
Mayor Mike Bradley broke the tie, voting to support the request, but noted he doesn’t want to see heightened security measures for what’s always been a ‘citizen-friendly chamber.’
“I will break the tie to at least ask for that general report to come back to council.”
