CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Despite a handful of holdouts, at the Nov. 25 Stratford city council meeting, council appointed David Boghasian, managing partner of Boghosian + Allen LLP, as the City of Stratford’s new integrity commissioner.
Coun. Cody Sebben had serious concerns regarding Boghasian due to recent media reports from the City of Greater Sudbury, where he was recently dismissed as its integrity commissioner.
At its Nov. 12 meeting, Greater Sudbury city council voted to terminate Boghosian after he presented a report on a number of alleged breaches of the code of conduct by Coun. Bill Leduc, Coun. Mike Parent and Coun. Natalie Labbée, with the recommendation to dock Labbée’s pay for five days, which council did not move forward with.
Notably, Labbée called Boghosian’s report unfair and distracting, a sentiment a few other councillors repeated at that meeting.
“Reading between the lines, it seems like a number of councillors (are) trying to keep investigations from happening,” Stratford Coun. Larry McCabe said about their decision to appoint Boghasian, saying there is value in Boghasian’s service.
Sebben disagreed.
“The criticism of this individual from the Sudbury council is that his commentary was not based solely on factual information,” he said, pointing out that Stratford staff’s decision to recommend appointing Boghasian probably occurred before Sudbury voted to fire him.
In the staff report, Boghasian is listed as the current integrity commissioner of Sudbury.
“We should be at least sending it back to staff to assess all four (applicants) again on updated metrics,” Sebben said.
Sebben, Coun. Lesley Biehn and Coun. Bonnie Henderson were opposed to Boghasian’s appointment.
According to the staff report provided to council, Boghasian has over 30 years of experience in providing legal services to municipalities, including integrity commissioner services.
Integrity commissioners ensure members of city council and relative boards adhere to the code of conduct and Municipal Conflict of Interest Act (MCIA). They provide advice, education and conduct investigations.
Stratford Festival is the first two-time recipient of AAC’s annual Accessibility Award
The 2025 Accessibility Award goes to its first second-timer: The Stratford Festival.
Roger Koert and Andy Mark of the accessibility advisory committee (AAC) presented the award on behalf of the committee to Meineka Kulasinghe, equity, diversity and inclusion manager at the Stratford Festival.
Over the years, the festival has focused on accessibility beyond the built environment, Koert shared with council in his presentation. It offers accessible performances, including open-captioned, audio-described, American Sign Language (ASL) interpreted and relaxed performances where lighting, sound and audience codes of conduct are modified so that people can feel in place as they watch a show.
“If all the world's a stage, the festival is creating the reality that, in fact, that stage is accessible,” Koert said.
This is the 14th year an award has been given out by the committee. Each year, it reviews nominations of citizens and organizations that have gone to great lengths to make their corner of Stratford barrier-free and accessible. The festival previously won the annual award in 2012.
Over $800,000 in revenue generated through Municipal Accommodations Tax (MAT) this year
A substantial amount of money has been generated this year through the Municipal Accommodations Tax (MAT), but not all of that money will be going to the city.
The MAT was implemented in the summer of 2023 as a four per-cent tax on overnight stays in local short-term accommodations. Local accommodators, whether they are licenced through the city or not, must remit MAT to the city on a regular basis based on what type of accommodation they are.
As of Nov. 7, for the 10 months ending on Oct. 31, $449,453 was the revenue from the monthly reported accommodators (hotels, motels and inns) and $368,755 was the revenue from the quarterly reported accommodators (short-term rentals and bed and breakfasts) – though MAT revenues from the latter are to be split with Destination Stratford.
The funds are to be held in reserve, which points to a bigger question, as Coun. Jo-Dee Burbach indicated.
“We still have the policy for how council will spend the MAT,” she said. “We haven't really had that discussion yet, and it's my belief that we should probably put something in place sooner or later.”
The MAT is being put in reserves as revenue and will not affect next year’s budget, as the draft 2025 budget stands now. Last year during deliberations, council voted to use the revenues from MAT collected in its first few months to go towards bringing the tax levy down, though didn’t make any further commitment.
“It’s certainly something we can talk about through budget deliberations,” Karmen Krueger, treasurer and director of corporate services, said in regards to Burbach’s question.
Though the report did not cover licensing, Sebben inquired about that piece, which has historically had issues with enforcement since the licensing bylaw’s inception.
Adam Betteridge, director of building and planning services, said non-compliant accommodators generally cooperate with the city well. The city has taken the approach of working with accommodators to get them licensed and he noted that many either comply and get up to code or cease operations.
Mayor asks council, gallery to keep Jim Aitcheson in thoughts
Ahead of the playing of “O’ Canada” and the moment of silent reflection, Mayor Martin Ritsma asked council and the attending gallery to keep in their thoughts the late Jim Aitcheson, former mayor of Perth South and a past warden of Perth County.
Aitcheson passed away on Nov. 21 from cancer. He had been mayor since 2022, however his public service began in 2006 as a councillor – though his service went beyond politics. He served as a loyal Downie Optimist since 1981 and was also an active member of the Quadro Communications board of directors from 1995 to 2004.
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