The city of Thorold said it will be laying out all cards on the table in relation to the Canada Summer Games Park, and will be posting the consortium agreement online for the public to review.
That was the message from Terry Ugulini in a special meeting in the regional council on Thursday afternoon.
The consortium agreement, fusing the city of Thorold to the operation and management of the massive sports arena, currently under construction, has been the subject of a long-running and heated debate in city council, as some members have pointed out transparency issues, as well as financial risks to the city for its commitment to the park.
On Tuesday night, Thorold city councillor Anthony Longo raised the issue of a clause in the contract, requiring consent from all parties for information about the deal to be shared publicly.
In a letter, sent to the regional council ahead of its Thursday afternoon meeting, Longo said he was reaching out in the capacity of a taxpayer and that he did not want to interefere in regional politics, but that the wording in the bylaw, at least on Thorold's end, could constitute a problem for open government,.
"This means any party can block disclosure of the details of the agreement from the public. This was made known at the most recent open Thorold City Council meeting. Therefore, as a municipal ratepayer, I and others may never know how much this project is costing or what we will have in equity at the end of the agreement, along with many other important considerations," Longo wrote to council.
With the tension in Thorold city council not going unnoticed at the regional headquarters, the region's CAO Ron Tripp said the details in the agreement at this point would likely be accessible to anyone through a freedom of information-request. He said the region would not post the documents on its website unprompted, as it would like to stick to the official protocol.
However, Thorold Mayor Terry Ugulini said the city has sent out an official request to receive the documents so that they can be published on the city's website.
"It was our intent all along, but we are doing it through the official protocol," Ugulini told the regional council.
"As soon as we get them, we expect to put them up."
The 2021 Canada Summer Games were cancelled due to the pandemic. It has announced its new dates for the summer 2022.
