On December 18, 2024 Owen Sound resident Ken Jones participated in the Public Question Period and attempted to ask a question about Owen Sound’s high taxes. Owen Sound’s Procedural Bylaw states that: “Questions, including the brief introductory statement, are limited to a time-period of five (5) minutes”.  In spite of this, Mr. Jones was interrupted by the Mayor about two minutes into his introductory statement. The Mayor reprimanded Mr. Jones for not getting to his question and directed him to ask his question. At 2 minutes 58 seconds Mr. Jones continued with his question. At 3 minutes, 40 seconds the Mayor once again interrupted Mr. Jones and instructed him to get to his question. At 4 minutes, 10 seconds Mr. Jones was able to finish his question. His question stated that relative to comparable municipalities that Owen Sound had the highest taxes and the lowest incomes and asked how the Mayor could explain this.

In his response the Mayor stated that "Owen Sound does not have the highest taxes" and that Mr. Jones had outdated information. The Mayor went on to say that there are municipalities that have higher "taxes per capita" than Owen Sound. However those municipalities are almost all single tier municipalities that provide a much higher level of services than Owen Sound. Hence, they are not comparable municipalities, which was the premise of Mr. Jones question.

The Mayor ignored the most important part of Mr. Jones’ question which was that he was referring comparable municipalities. Mr. Jones was correct. The data shows that when Owen Sound is fairly compared to similar municipalities based on population, population-density and the number of occupied dwellings that Owen Sound does have the highest taxes. As well, when Owen Sound is compared to all municipalities in Grey and Bruce counties, Owen Sound does have the highest taxes.

In regard to the Mayor’s claim that Mr. Jones hid information was “Outdated”, Mr. Jones was referring to postings I had made on Facebook. These postings were based on the 2023 BMA Report and the 2022 Audited Financial Statements. These documents are the most up to date documents available. Mr. Jones’ information was not outdated.

The Mayor then stated that he was obligated to follow the existing bylaws. However the relevant bylaw is the Procedural Bylaw and as stated above it gives questioners a total of five (5) minutes to ask their question. So, why did the Mayor interrupt Mr. Jones, when he was only two minutes into his question?  Mr. Jones stated at the time that it was because the Mayor didn’t like the subject of his question. Mr. Jones’ interaction with council can be viewed at:  Mayor Chairs Meeting

In contrast, on January 15, 2024 at a meeting chaired by the Deputy Mayor at resident was presented with a warm and inviting environment to ask her question in contrast with the confrontation, no-tolerance environment that Mr. Jones was presented with. As well the questioner was ask to stay at the podium for members of council to ask questions and was allowed to ask a follow up question. The whole exchange took about 7 minutes. This questioner was treated very differently from Mr. Jones. Why was that? what differentiated her from Mr. Jones?  Was it her gender? Was it her age? Or, was it the subject of her question as Mr. Jones implied? This questioner’s interaction with council can be reviewed here: Deputy Mayor Chairs Meeting

Another example of unequal treatment at the podium occurred on December 18, 2023 when the Mayor was making a Deputation to council. Para 64(i) of the Procedural Bylaw informs us that: “deputations and presentation are limited to a time period of ten (10) minutes” However the mayor ignored this restriction as spoke for nearly 30 minutes. On completion of his deputation the Deputy Mayor commented that the Mayor had exceeded the time limit.

So the question is; why did Mr. Jones receive such intolerant treatment? He was clearly treated unfairly in that he was not allowed to speak for the full five minutes he was entitled to under the bylaw. Furthermore, others, including the Mayor, were allowed to exceed the allotted time without being interrupted indicating that these time limits can be waived which shows that Mr. Jones was indeed discriminated against in that he was treated very differently.

Ian Boddy has been Owen Sound's Mayor for nearly ten (10) years now. He is well aware the Procedural Bylaw that grants residents at the Public Question Period a full five (5) minutes to introduce and pose their questions. Yet in spite of this, he denied Mr. Jones his right to use a full five (5) minutes to introduce and ask his question.  Why was this? Was it because as Mr. Jones stated, that the Mayor just didn't like the topic he was introducing – High Taxes?

If Mr. Jones is correct that the Mayor treated him differently because of the subject of his question, high taxes, then the Mayor also has a disqualifying conflict of interest in that the Mayor was the Head of Council during the nine (9) year period that taxes rapidly increased and that he voted to increase taxes on thirteen (13) occasions. Therefore the Mayor would have an interest in defending his record of supporting annual tax increases that many residents believe were unnecessarily high. 

Mr. Jones’ belief that the Mayor’s behaviour was the result of the subject he was introducing seems to be supported by the Mayor’s response to the Report I provided him mid-November that provided evidence, based on municipal Audited Financial Statements, that Owen Sound taxes were abnormally high when compared to similar municipalities. Not only did the Mayor not respond to the recommendations my Report provided, he did not even show a basic sign of professional courtesy by acknowledging receipt of my Report.

I believe that the facts show that the Mayor violated the Code of Conduct and has a disqualifying conflict of interest.

What do you think?