Councillors question transparency after meeting between Chatham-Kent officials and OHL

Some Chatham Kent Council members are concerned after they left out of a meeting with the OHL on expansion. CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell explains.

Some members of council in the Municipality of Chatham-Kent say they were caught off guard after learning a meeting had taken place between municipal officials and representatives of the Ontario Hockey League about the possibility of bringing a team to the community.

The issue surfaced during Monday night’s council meeting when councillor Rhonda Jubenville asked administration to confirm whether a private meeting had taken place involving the mayor, several councillors and municipal staff.

“Is it true that there was a private meeting with OHL officials, the mayor and multiple council members, almost half, and certain administration members?” Jubenville asked during council. “And it was a private meeting and did this indeed occur?”

She later added she was “caught off guard” by the situation.

Some councillors said they only learned about the meeting days before the council session.

Councillor Alysson Storey said she first heard about it from a constituent.

“I literally just learned about it like a day or two before council,” Storey said. “Certainly council — well, 11 of us — were not informed about any of it.”

Storey said if the matter had not been raised during council business, it may not have come to light.

“It’s deeply disappointing, it’s deeply disturbing, and it’s deeply anti-democratic,” she said, adding she has concerns about what may have been discussed.

Storey said she believes the situation raises questions about transparency and accountability.

“When you have a mayor who admitted last night at council that he handpicked seven councillors to attend a secret meeting with a private business and didn’t tell the rest of us, which means taxpayers aren’t aware, our constituents are unaware,” she said.

Councillor Michael Bondy said the situation was unusual during his time on council.

“I’ve been around a long time. I’ve been on council for 16 years, so I think I’ve seen it all,” Bondy said. “I’ve never seen this, to be honest. It’s surprising and it’s discouraging.”

Bondy said discussions about a potential arena to support an OHL franchise could involve a major financial commitment.

“We’re not talking about buying swing sets,” he said. “This is a $220-million arena. So this is a very big deal.”

However, councillor Brock McGregor, who participated in the virtual meeting, said it was simply an exploratory conversation initiated by the league.

“The OHL had reached out. They had some interest in Chatham-Kent,” McGregor explained. “They were discussing some of their expansion plans, really wanted to learn a bit more about the community and provide some information on what’s going on with the league.”

McGregor said the meeting was similar to discussions the municipality regularly has with organizations interested in the community.

“I got a quick call the morning of or the day before the meeting to hop on a Zoom call just to chat,” he said. “No decision-making is made during those meetings. It’s really about talking about the community and what opportunities are here.”

Mayor Darrin Canniff confirmed the online meeting took place and said it lasted less than an hour.

“I wanted all of council to attend, but the clerk pointed out you can’t have all of council,” Canniff said, referencing rules under the Municipal Act regarding quorum.

He told CTV News he invited councillors who had previously expressed interest in arena discussions and the idea of an OHL team being in Chatham.

“The people who have expressed an interest in the past about an arena — that’s who I went to,” Canniff said.

Canniff acknowledged the concerns raised by some councillors and said he would communicate more broadly with council if similar discussions occur in the future.

“If ever again we’re talking to the OHL, I’ll make sure that all of council is well aware of the meeting,” he said.

The mayor said the municipality is already exploring options for new arena infrastructure regardless of whether an OHL franchise eventually comes to the community.

“We need a new arena,” Canniff said, noting the facility the municipality is considering replacing was built in 1947.

Some councillors remain skeptical about pursuing an OHL-sized arena, particularly given the potential cost.

“The short answer is absolutely not,” Storey said when asked if now is the right time to consider such a project. “We are already committing to hundreds of millions of dollars of projects in this community.”

Bondy said major decisions about a project of that scale should likely be left to the next council following the municipal election later this year.

“We’ve waited 40 years,” he said. “What’s another six or seven months?”

CTV News has reached out to the Ontario Hockey League for comment about the meeting and the possibility of expansion in Chatham-Kent, but had not received a response as of publication.