Council discusses City staff behind its back

Traditionally, when a municipal council holds a retreat, the public never learns what went on behind closed doors.

Ostensibly, such gatherings are usually held for "prioritizing" or similarly benign purposes.

However, in the handful of cases in which detailed accounts have been made public, usually as a result of lawsuits or investigative reporting, discussion at these private getaways has often turned to City staff, who are almost never invited.

In recent years, the courts have come down with increasing severity on municipal councils and other public bodies that have used informal meetings to discuss public business.

Advised by its staff that private retreats are illegal when used for the wrong reasons, Sault Ste. Marie City Council decided on a bold experiment.

They'd hold a 'public' retreat.

They'd try to work through sensitive stuff that needed to be worked through, but they'd do it under the unblinking gaze of public-access video cameras in the C-nergy room at Algoma's Water Tower Inn.

The result was an eight-hour session on Saturday at which the more experienced members of Council had serious misgivings at the outset.

But when asked later for concluding remarks, every councillor present agreed it had been a worthwhile session.

Mayor Rowswell commented that he'd never heard so many laughs in all his time on City Council.

A technogeek's fantasy

Marketed as the most advanced facility of its kind in Canada, the C-nergy room has enough wire and silicon to wet the pants of even the most ardent technogeek.

Councillors were seated at a circular table, each workstation equipped with a laptop computer that allowed them to post comments on a rolling log displayed on a large screen behind facilitator Norm Jaehrling.

And just like other municipal retreats whose deliberations are known, Council spent much of its time discussing people who either weren't present or who were provided no opportunity to respond to their comments.

Ward 1 Councillor Jamie Caicco (shown resplendent in C. Rogers sports jersey) and his Ward 6 counterpart Jason Collins dedicated significant time (the $2,500 retreat cost taxpayers approximately $5 a minute) to attacking SooToday.com's live coverage of the event.

Talking about staff

The discussion also drifted at several points to matters related to City Hall staff.

No one's name was specifically mentioned, but Chief Administrative Officer Joe Fratesi's position figured prominently in these deliberations.

Fratesi wasn't there.

Neither were his department heads.

The only Civic Centre staffers present were City Clerk Donna Irving and Deputy Clerk Malcolm White.

Collins says mayor has problems with staff

Councillor Collins pushed for a task force to review the roles of the mayor and the chief administrative officer.

It's obvious that there are problems in that area and anyone who says otherwise is mistaken, Collins said.

"If we're going to pretend that everything's all hunky- dory, then fine. But I'm hearing all the time from our mayor that he has problems with staff."

In particular, the mayor regularly advises that he's having problems accessing information from staff, Collins said.

Councillor Caicco advised Council that it would be an exercise in futility to establish a task force "to make Joe and John friends."

Mayor pushes to be involved in CAO evaluation

There seemed, however, to be consensus among councillors that there should be a formal job description and performance evaluation of Fratesi's position.

Mayor Rowswell pushed hard to be personally involved in developing a process and tools for the CAO's evaluation.

There was also a discussion about the need for transparency and full disclosure from City staff, especially in reports prepared for Council.

However, former mayor Steve Butland pointed out that such talk implies dishonesty on the part of staff, and the debate ended shortly after he said that it should go no further without staff present.

Is the Mayor overworked?

There was considerable discussion about the role of the mayor, whether he's overworked and whether he consults sufficiently with council.

Former mayor Butland talked about a number of recent mayoral initiatives in which Council seemed to be an afterthought.

Rowswell said that he's already carrying far too heavy a load, expressed concern about having to work past 11 p.m.

The added duties of communicating with Council will exacerbate the problem, he said.

"I feel that I'm being restricted," Rowswell said.

Asked by Councillor Caicco to explain how he's being restricted, Rowswell said was too tired to give specific examples.

"If you show the leadership, you'll get all (the latitude) you want," Butland responded.

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