Mayor Dennis Lever is disappointed and considers his credibility with the Ministry of Transportation undermined after an announcement about the government’s approval of the Morriston bypass was leaked last month.
On April 20, as part of the mayor’s update to council, Lever read from a prepared statement.
“The week before the announcement on Highway 6 (the Morriston bypass), I was contacted by the ministry to advise me of what was being planned,” said Lever.
“I was also told that there was an information embargo in effect and as such it was to be kept confidential.”
Lever explained that he was given permission to share the News with council as long as it remained confidential until the ministry released a media advisory, on March 26.
“I called each councillor, who committed to keep the information confidential,” said Lever.
“Within a couple of hours, the information was released to the public and my credibility with the ministry was undermined. I’m very disappointed with this outcome.”
At that point councillor Matthew Bulmer tried to interject, but Lever asked to finish his comments.
The mayor continued, “As such, I am advising [council] that when a similar situation arises, I have no alternative but to keep the information to myself until it is made public.”
Bulmer said he appreciated and understood Lever’s comments, but questioned the mayor making the statement at that point in the meeting.
Bulmer did not dispute that the mayor’s comments were important to bring up, but he said he thought the purpose of the “mayor’s update” was to bring Wellington County information forward.
Lever agreed the mayor’s update was originally for county updates and information, but he has added other items not necessarily county-related … “so it became updates to council I thought they would be interested in.”
Lever agreed the majority of updates continue to be county-related, “but some of the discussion has wandered off before.”
Bulmer asked if was appropriate for councillors to use municipal updates in a similar manner. Lever said if it was something would require notice, it would need to be an agenda item.
No other councillors commented on Lever’s statement about the leaking of the bypass announcement.
