From now on, Collingwood council members will remain mum on all matters and questions related to the judicial inquiry into the 2012 sale of 50 per cent of Collus to PowerStream.
On July 12, council passed a motion stating all questions related to the inquiry or other “high-profile matters” be referred to and addressed by the CAO.
Councillor Bob Madigan introduced the idea on June 25 with a motion asking staff to look into options to limit and reduce councillor’s responsibilities for communications while the judicial inquiry was ongoing.
At the time, Madigan said the decision was about stopping misinformation. He said limiting council’s ability to communicate to the public and media about the ongoing inquiry would “diffuse” and “depoliticize” the issue.
Communication’s officer, Jennett Mays explained to council the desired limitation could be implemented via the town’s corporate communications protocol, which states all inquiries related to pending litigation, high profile or personnel issues must be referred to the CAO (Fareed Amin), clerk (Sara Almas) and communication’s officer (Jennett Mays).
Council’s approval of the communication limitations was unanimous in both standing committee on July 9 and at the special council meeting July 12. No members of council had any comments or questions on Mays’ report.
There will still be information available about the progress of the judicial inquiry. The team running the inquiry has set up a website. There is also a communications director, Peter Rehak, assigned to the inquiry and an upcoming community meeting at the Collingwood Library on August 13.
According to the inquiry website, Associate Chief Justice Marrocco does not give media interviews since he is a sitting judge. Inquiry counsel speaks to the media on behalf of the inquiry.
