A bit of a swarm, some traffic chaos, and a bit of confusion overall regarding municipal procedures and who even does what… but all in all it was a good, healthy protest.
Roughly 150 people stood outside the Tiny Township municipal building on Wednesday night prior to a council meeting where the passing of the 2024 draft budget was one item on the agenda.
While the current municipal building at 130 Balm Beach Rd. W. was built nearly 60 years ago to accommodate a township population of 2,000 residents, the proposed multi-million dollar building, which has been deferred by three other terms of council, is expected to last for the next 60 years when built.
At this moment and as a result of council approving the budget, $400,000 has been set aside to implement the second phase of the project, which involves building design.
And the cost along with actually building the structure has some township residents up in arms.
“I only expected 75 people to show up,” said protest organizer Karen Zulynik, who stood with sign in hand among a crowd of passive protesters with some aggressors mixed in.
The music of Bob Marley’s Get Up, Stand Up played in the background as protesters milled for the hour prior to the beginning of council. The impromptu crowd who arrived in numerous vehicles overwhelmed the township parking lot at 5 p.m., causing mayhem for Tiny staff unable to leave the premises while cars slowed and honked on the road ahead. Only one protester with a sign took charge to orchestrate traffic.
Elsewhere, Zulynik was in full organizer mode, leading the crowd in chants of “No new building!” and “Transparency!”
The protests rose as Zulynik read aloud budgetary items such as the cost of bike racks, leading the throng to ask among themselves more about CAO Robert Lamb – including who he even was, what a CAO stood for (chief administrative officer) and why he was even qualified for his position.
Mayor Dave Evans arrived to chat with a few residents until Tiny resident Connie Cantwell took direct issue with Evans, expressing her views and drawing an increasing crowd around her. She told MidlandToday that although she had said her piece to Evans, she felt she hadn’t been heard.
“There’s no need, really, for a new township hall,” said Cantwell. “That money could be better spent on roads and other infrastructure that the township needs. There’s nothing wrong with this building.”
After the crowd began to get louder and hurled slights such as “My kids go to school in a portable, you can work in one!” (in reference to municipal staff working in the surrounding portables), Evans bowed out of the congregation to get ready for the meeting.
As the fire code allowed for just over a 50 person capacity inside, Fire Chief Dave Flewelling took numbers and stayed vigilant at the door once the limit was met. Attendees in the chamber sat in various states of murmur while council began and asked for open deputations.
Zulynik spoke on behalf of the residents, citing her petition against the new build that has now garnered close to 1,000 signatures.
“Here’s why I started the petition,” Zulynik stated. “Council has failed to provide clear and convincing evidence that this new building is necessary and financially viable.”
She noted that there had been no engineering reports submitted, despite council setting aside $400,000 to have a design made; she also noted there had been no public engagement on the issue.
Evans thanked Zulynik for the deputation and asked if there were other deputations, which was followed by former Midland mayor Stewart Strathearn asking to speak on the topic of firearms within Tiny Township – a point of discussion council had dealt with over previous months.
Some in the crowd seemed confused as they didn’t recognize that open deputations were open to all, and further flummoxed that they had to sit while a person spoke to council for over 15 minutes on a topic that wasn’t on the reason they had appeared.
Half the crowd in the chambers left before Strathearn was done.
When the 2024 draft budget was adopted in the receiving of minutes section, there was no uproar from the crowd; instead, a quieted rumble passed through with questions of “Was that it?” and “Are we done?” in the hush.
Even more protesters left as council members dealt with typical matters for consideration – such as an interim taxation bylaw, and an Ontario Land Tribunal appeal for the committee of adjustment. Their comments of “Blah, blah, blah” and “This is bullshit” emphasized that they were there with the intent to protest.
Regular council recessed with just 16 people left in the audience prior to 7 p.m., whittled further to Zulynik as the lone audience attendee when the committee of the whole resumed 10 minutes later. She stayed through the entire meeting’s length, stating that she was “there to learn” more about municipal council and its proceedings.
Evans spoke with MidlandToday during the recess, expressing the healthy democracy in action at his chambers and praising residents for being engaged in the municipal process.
“(The dwindling crowd number) is by no means a reflection of the sincerity or of their vehemence in the issue,” said Evans. “We respect that, and we think that’s great that the people are coming out and making their views known. We’ve got a very engaged, educated and smart constituency, and we look for their input.”
When asked if he had heard the frustrations of the residents as per Cantwell’s opinion, he countered that the reason he had entered and stayed in the protest crowd was to receive varying viewpoints from Tiny protesters.
“Could we do a better job in terms of providing more information? There’s a variety of options for people to access information,” said Evans in regard to the many municipal public and media relations outlets over the previous terms.
“We have followed a process that has been in place since 2014, so it’s not like we’re coming up with anything off-the-cuff.” He added, “We have no preconceived ideas of what we’re putting into it… other than, obviously, we need office space.”
Other items Evans noted were that the three portables (of seven municipal office locations) “were condemned when we got them”; that the current term of council had never dealt with a project of such magnitude; and that the multiple-deferred building “would cost less to build now than build in the future”.
The special committee of the whole draft 2024 budget minutes can be viewed on the agenda page on the Township of Tiny website.
Archives of council meetings are available to view on the township’s YouTube channel.
