THUNDER BAY - The Thunder Bay Police Services Board is now at full membership, with the provincial appointee, Kyle Lansdell, receiving voting rights. But the chair of the board says there are still some growing pains to get through as members around the table raise questions about transparency on some issues.
“Having a board that might go through its growing pains and deal with tensions at times, absolutely,” said board chair Georjann Morriseau. “It’s there. But at the same time, I don’t allow it, at least on my part, to hinder the progress on the board.”
During the Thunder Bay Police Services Board meeting on Tuesday, Lansdell was given his voting rights as a member of the board after completing governance training. He was also elected as vice-chair after being nominated by Board administrator, Thomas Lockwood and seconded by former chair, Celina Reitberger.
Mayor Bill Mauro nominated Kristen Oliver to serve as vice-chair but did not receive a seconder.
All members of the board were required to complete governance and cultural awareness training before being granted the right to vote as per a recommendation from the Ontario Civilian Police Commission report released last year.
While Lansdell did not complete the cultural awareness training, Lockwood, who was appointed following the release of the OCPC report, said training Lansdell completed through the Northern Ontario School of Medicine is satisfactory.
“I am satisfied that Dr. Lansdell does have cultural awareness training that is equivalent to what we have received,” Lockwood said. “In my view, it should be an ongoing thing in terms of the board, but as my role and deciding if Lansdell should have a vote, he should.”
Lockwood will remain as a voting member of the board and according to its bylaws, in the event of a tie vote, a motion will be defeated.
There was some discussion as to whether Lockwood received two votes in order to break a tie, but it was determined that with a full complement of voting members, Lockwood only has one vote at the table.
“It’s important to have a full complement of voting members,” Morriseau said. “One its part of good governance and two it’s been a long time coming. It’s important we have all the decision makers with equal capacity sitting at the table to help guide the direction of the board and the police services moving forward in a positive direction.”
There appears to be some tension among members of the board, however, and on Tuesday Mauro asked for a re-vote on a motion to remove an invitation to the Thunder Bay Police Association to attend meetings as a standing agenda item.
“It’s an issue I’ve been raising for a number of months now,” Mauro said. “Individual members of the board were having meetings with the association. I was asking the association have a meeting collectively with the board and still come forward and speak to us about what are the challenges or opportunities relative to policing in the city of Thunder Bay.”
During last month’s Police Services Board meeting, the board passed a motion moved by Reitberger and seconded by Lockwood to remove a standing item of the Police Services Board agenda inviting a member from the Police Association to attend the monthly meetings.
The issue was first brought forward late last year after a representative from the Thunder Bay Police Association had not attended a several board meetings despite the standing invitation.
While discussing the motion in January, Morriseau said there have been discussions with the Police Association and she didn’t see it as necessary to have the invitation as a standing item until it can be determined what they will be reporting to the board.
“Councillor Oliver and I were not at the January meeting,” Mauro said. “There was a motion moved at that meeting that the police association representing at Police Board meetings be removed as a standing agenda item. I felt it was time to have that discussion.”
The board discussed the motion again on Tuesday, with Mauro and Oliver saying members of the board meeting outside of a board setting with the Police Association is not transparent.
“I understand the issue of transparency overall,” Morriseau said. “I think regarding the meetings that have had taken place outside of the board per se originated from the previous leadership of the board, who is within their role as chair to conduct outreach and look for proactive ways and solutions to either resolve or build better relationships amongst our partners. I don’t dismiss or discredit the mayor in his comments. But I recognize as a board we have a chair for a reason. It isn’t to stifle the sharing of information publically.”
The board re-voted on the original motion from last month and it once again passed, with Mauro and Oliver voting against.
