By: Michael Bennett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Ridgetown Independent News
All of Chatham-Kent – Council and residents – will learn first-hand about the possibility of a future Ontario Hockey League expansion franchise coming here.
Bryan Crawford, OHL Commissioner, will make a virtual presentation at this coming Monday night’s Council meeting, outlining the league’s future expansion plans and what it is looking for in a city.
The presentation will be the first item on the March 23 agenda, as the meeting starts at 6 p.m. It will be shown live on Your TV Chatham-Kent Cogeco and YouTube channels, and on the municipality’s Facebook page.
Discussion of Chatham-Kent’s interest in an OHL expansion franchise touched off a tense exchange between Mayor Darrin Canniff and three councillors at the March 9 meeting.
Ward 4’s Rhonda Jubenville, Ward 6’s Alysson Storey and Michael Bondy grilled the mayor. At the same time, only select members of the council were chosen to take part in a virtual meeting with the OHL commissioner on February 26.
Canniff arranged for an informational meeting to listen to Crawford’s expansion presentation, with CAO Michael Duben, along with seven councillors – Ward 3’s Morena McDonald, Ward 1’s Melissa Harrigan, Ward 2’s Anthony Ceccacci and Ryan Doyle and Ward 6’s Marjorie Crew, Brock McGregor and Connor Allin. Ward 1’s Lauren Anderson noted she knew of the meeting but did not participate.
Canniff, who had previously spoken with Crawford, arranged an information session to allow more municipal officials to hear the OHL’s pitch.
“It wasn’t a get-together to make any decisions or do anything,” said Canniff, as all participants listened remotely on their own. “There were no investors, businesses or private citizens.”
“The councillors had no interaction, we listened to what he (Crawford) had to say, and we asked questions,” Canniff said.
However, other councillors said they had never been informed about the meeting until the story appeared in the media.
The Blenheim News Tribune broke the story in its Wednesday, March 4 edition, the same day Canniff talked about the OHL in his bi-monthly appearance on CKSY 94.1 FM’s CK Morning Show with Chris McLeod and Allanah Wills.
This prompted Jubenville to question why certain councillors were chosen to participate in “a private meeting” while others were not even made aware of it.
“I know it was just preliminary information, but now I feel I’m at a disadvantage if this comes to Council at a later time, that some of my colleagues have received information that I have not received,” Storey followed with a tense back and forth with Canniff.
“Meeting with private business owners without the rest of council knowing, it does come across as very non-transparent; the optics of this are not ideal right now,” said Storey.
Bondy agreed. “That’s okay if I wasn’t invited, but inviting seven and not all of us, I think, is a really bad look and does not improve our transparency and accountable report card by any stretch.”
Ward 3’s John Wright, Ward 2’s Trevor Thompson, Ward 4’s Jamie McGrail, Ward 5’s Carmen McGregor and Aaron Hall, and Ward 6’s Amy Finn were the other councillors who did not know of the meeting.
Wright, Thompson, Hall, McGrail and Carmen McGregor have already announced they will not seek re-election in the Municipal Elections in October.
Throughout the discussion, Canniff stood by his decision to have only a handful of councillors participate because, if more than half had participated, it would have been an official Council meeting.
But later in the week, Canniff had a change of heart and admitted it was a mistake not to make all 17 councillors aware of the February 24 virtual meeting.
“My error is that I didn’t communicate with the rest of council, I take full responsibility for that,” Canniff admitted. “In the end, I agree that everyone needs to know what’s happening, especially with something this big.”
“So to rectify that, I’ve arranged for him (Bradley) to make the same presentation at the next council meeting so we can all be on the same page,” Canniff declared.
The mayor said Chatham-Kent checks off “all of the boxes” the OHL is looking for in a municipality – except one. Chatham-Kent does not have an OHL standard arena.
The 77-year-old Chatham Memorial Arena has the largest capacity (2,400) of Chatham-Kent’s 10 arenas. Memorial Arena, however, falls short on every OHL standard, including ice dimensions, seating, an inadequate press box, washrooms, concessions, and no private boxes.
Other OHL teams that had considered relocating to Chatham abruptly left when told Memorial Arena could not be used as a temporary home while a new arena was being built.
Council approved Chatham-Kent’s Recreation Master Plan in December, with the top priority being a new multi-use sports facility that includes either a two-pad or a four-pad arena complex.
There has been no decision on the size or capacity of a main rink, as the OHL prefers a minimum 5,000-seat arena.
Canniff said he will include council and the public in any future conversations regarding the OHL.
“In retrospect, I would have done it differently,” he said. “I’ve heard their (councillors’) issues, and I’ve resolved them by bringing in this presentation.”
“In the end, it’s going to be better because everyone in the public is going to hear it,” Canniff said.
