GOING ROGUE? Springfield councillors meet with public to gather feedback

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Two rural councillors are accusing their mayor and the rest of council of not being open and transparent with the public and say they are taking matters into their own hands to engage with the people they were elected to serve.

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Last Thursday, more than 150 RM of Springfield residents packed into the Dugald Community Centre to take part in what was billed as a public engagement session hosted by Springfield councillors Mark Miller and Andy Kuczynski.

The session, which allowed residents to speak publicly and ask questions on a number of local issues, was not an official RM event, and was not attended by fellow Springfield councillors Melinda Warren and Glen Fuhl, or by Mayor Patrick Therrien.

According to Miller, he and Kuczynski held the meeting because of their continued frustration with the rest of council over what he says has been a lack of transparency and communication on several issues, and because he says they have asked on many occasions for the RM to host official engagement sessions with residents.

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“We have asked over and over for these to be done through the RM, and they have been slow to do it and resistant, and they have come up with all sorts of excuses, so Andy and I thought ‘we’ll just collectively coordinate them and do it ourselves,’” he said.

And Miller says attendance at last week’s meeting proves that Springfield residents want to ask more questions and have more input on issues that could affect them, as he says the crowd in the community centre was “standing room only” and most in attendance made comments and asked questions of the two councillors.

“The people were very engaged, and the constant message I heard throughout the meeting is that they do not trust that their mayor is being open and transparent, and they don’t believe that voices are being heard or respected,” he said.

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“We wouldn’t have had standing room only if people weren’t concerned about what was going on.”

Springfield resident and business owner Richard Kuffner attended last week’s engagement session and believes the session offered one of the only remaining options to interact with their representatives.

“Residents I have spoken to are really feeling they are being shut out of the political process by this mayor, and that the leader of this community is not listening to what the people want,” Kuffner said.

“The mayor is supposed to work for the people but more and more, people are wondering who he is working for.”

Miller said a wide range of topics was covered, including the financial impacts that several proposed projects could have, and if they would lead to increased taxation for ratepayers.

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Also discussed was where councillors stand on the proposed Plan20-50, a controversial planning document that would have 18 municipalities in the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region (WMR) take a more “collaborative” approach to municipal decision-making in the region, and would set targets for growth and development that WMR communities would have to meet.

Last week’s meeting was not the first that Miller and Kuczynski have organized, as they also held two similar engagement sessions earlier this year.

Both were also vocal opponents of a proposed silica sand mine that Alberta-based Sio Silica previously wanted to develop in the region, and on several occasions over the last approximately year-and-a-half held media conferences independent of the rest of council and the RM to voice their opposition to the project, which has since been killed by the NDP government.

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Miller said he and Kuczynski plan to continue hosting engagement sessions in the community until they feel the mayor and the rest of council are doing enough to properly engage with residents.

“I know some have accused us of going rogue or trying to get attention but that it not why we are doing this,” he said.

“We’re doing this because we both strongly believe that meeting with the public in a community setting on a routine basis is a key responsibility to effectively represent the people we serve.”

Mayor Therrien did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Tuesday.

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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