The terms of the County’s binding agreement with Picton Terminals have been released. Council voted unanimously to approve the motion at a special meeting called on Wednesday 7 August for the same evening.

The motion, introduced by Mayor Steve Ferguson, releases the terms of the County’s settlement with Picton Terminals to the public — including the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte.

The terms were to be made known only with the agenda of the meeting where they were to be ratified, normally published three days in advance. In his remarks, the Mayor referred to public calls for the release of the terms.

“I have long believed it is the appropriate thing to do. We must share this information with the public. It is in our best interests. We have all, Councillors and staff, made a great deal of effort to ensure we are open and transparent. 

“The complexity of this particular document meant we were less transparent than we should have been.”

The Mayor also asked that Council support moving the date of the vote to ratify the terms to September 10.

“The Mohawks have been extended an invitation to a meeting with the municipality and Picton Terminals, and we await a response. This provides them a bit more time and allows the public more time to come to understand the document.”

Councillor Bill Roberts asked, “why would we consider changing the plans in course, plans advised by staff and legal counsel?” 

“A pro forma bylaw vote is not open to discussion. The public is getting tired of flip flopping  which leads to loss of credibility, misinformation, speculation, and even more rancor than there is already,” he said.

“As for the MOBQ, I think folks know I am a pretty good friend of them, that I respect them, and I think the feeling is mutual. I am positive they will get back to us on our timelines.”

“I have long 
believed it is the 
appropriate thing to do. We must share this information with the 
public. It is in our best interests. We have all, Councillors and staff, made a great deal of effort to ensure we are open and transparent.
“The complexity of this particular document meant we were less transparent than we should have been.”

Mayor Steve Ferguson

The Mayor noted he had had a conversation with Chief Maracle. “He is in agreement with the release of these documents. As for the consideration of the date, Chief Maracle said his Council would be consulted and he would respond to the invitation to a meeting with Picton Terminals. But as the date of that meeting is still unknown, it would be respectful to give them that little bit of extra time.”

CAO Marcia Wallace noted she had consulted with legal counsel. “While this is a very unusual process in a settlement, because we have a binding agreement, and the last step is a physical signature, and we cannot do that until we have a bylaw, to push that off and make it public first is very unusual. But nothing legally precludes it.”

“We make a land acknowledgment at the beginning of every meeting,” said Councillor Kate MacNaughton. “We have to honour our neighbours who are First Nations community members and make sure they have the time they need to consider and to meet.”

While there was concern about a crowded agenda for August 27, which had votes scheduled for both Wellington water/wastewater construction and design tenders and the settlement with Picton Terminals on its agenda, a number of Councillors were opposed to moving off the date of the Picton Terminals vote.

An amendment to the motion from Councillor Harrison to keep the August 27 meeting date for the vote garnered 7 in favour but failed to carry.

A recorded vote then produced unanimous agreement to the motion to release the terms of the settlement as soon as possible and to move the vote to the September 10 Council meeting.

The terms of the agreement were duly released to the public via Public Service Announcement at 4:30 pm August 8. Interested readers can find the document on the County’s website. For a discussion of the settlement, see this week’s Editorial.