City Council confirms members of Macdonald History & Legacy working group

Kingston City Council has approved a list of appointments to the ‘Sir John A Macdonald History and Legacy Kingston Working Group’ from the City’s Nominations Advisory Committee.

The appointees include Kingston residents Mary Farrar, Tanya Grodzinski and Ann Stevens. Three self-identified Indigenous community members Laurel Clause Johnson, Candace Lloyd and Dionne Nolan were also appointed to the group.

Chief Dave Mowatt of Alderville First Nation and Chief R. Donald Maracle of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte will also join the working group on behalf of their communities.

Brief meeting followed closed session

The appointments were approved during a brief, ten-minute Council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021. Council met in a closed session for private deliberations earlier in the evening.

According to the Council agenda posted on the City’s website, the closed session included details of a potential litigation over the collapse of a building at 670 Princess St, which occurred on Friday, Dec. 25, 2020. It also reportedly touched on labour relations, employee negotiations and recruitment of identifiable individuals to City leadership positions.

Council’s regularly scheduled meeting, live-streamed on YouTube, followed their closed session at 7 p.m.

With no presentations, delegations, briefings or petitions, Council moved quickly through several brief items including renewing a City storage contract and approval of an application for Zoning Bylaw amendment at 192 Union Street. They also approved several Heritage permits recommended by Heritage Kingston, and accepted the Macdonald commitee appointments.

The meeting adjourned at 7:09 p.m. After five lengthy meetings in January, including three nights of budget deliberations and two regular, three-hour meetings, Council showed noticeable relief at the conclusion of the brief session.

“Congratulations everybody, that makes up for last week,” said Mayor Bryan Paterson.