Town of Renfrew mayor vows not to resign after vote of non-confidence against him

Mayor Tom Sidney at Tuesday's Renfrew town council meeting. (Town of Renfrew/Website)

Town of Renfrew Mayor Tom Sidney is vowing to stay in the job after the town council voted in favour of a motion of non-confidence against him.

Members passed the motion in a 4-3 vote at Tuesday's night's council meeting after they expressed concerns over the mayor's handling of an expansion to Renfrew's Ma-Te-Way Activity Centre, now known as the myFM Centre.

The project saw the addition of a second ice pad, a walking track, gymnasium, fitness centre and multicultural hub that was originally budgeted at $18-million, but has so far cost upwards of $35-million and is far behind schedule.

Councillor John McDonald brought forward the non-confidence motion at Tuesday night's council meeting.

"This was a multimillion dollar total financial failure of the Ma-Te-Way project. There was a total disregard for the proper stewardship of taxpayer's money," said McDonald.

"The only two explanations provided by the mayor was COVID and the cost of steel. We shortly realized the mayor did not have a good handle on the Ma-Te-Way project, even though he stated it was his baby."

Speaking to CTV News Wednesday, Sidney said he would not step down after the vote.

"I have no intentions of stepping down. The people have voted me in for a term and I've got three years to go. We're doing a lot of work and we've done a lot of changes in the last year," he said

Before becoming mayor, Sidney spearheaded the expansion project as chair of the recreation committee.

Sidney said last year that, "institutional failures" were made by previous councils, which led to the expansion far exceeding its budget.

He says the vote of non-confidence was premature by McDonald, as a third party investigation into the project is ongoing and is expected to be presented in March.

"If there has to be blame thrown at somebody, I believed in his project and I believed Renfrew really needed it. I think it's going to help our economy. So if that's taking the blame, then I guess I'll have to take the blame."

A vote of non-confidence cannot remove the mayor and merely serves as council's official expression of opinion.

"There's no mechanism in the municipal act to remove a member of council, whether it be the mayor or councillor," explained Renfrew's CAO Robert Tremblay.

"The province can't remove a council member. A council can't do it. Residents can't do a recall petition."

Many town residents have been left frustrated and wanting answers.

"Somebody needs to answer the questions on how it got so out of control," said resident Connie Monk at the activity centre's new walking track.

"Somebody should take the fall for this," added resident Andy McLaughlin. "Is it all his fault? I don't know. Let's get some more investigation into it."