Councillor Chris Moise came to council with a plan that was doomed to fail. Having been lauded for his “diplomacy” in sparing council a fight over that motion, he chose to take the low road, lashing out at his colleagues and the volunteers he was trying to fire.
“If Councillor (Jon) Burnside and others had an interest in knowing some of the work I’ve done around that area, they could actually have come to me and speak to me, rather than working around me,” Moise told council.
On Wednesday, in what may finally settle Moise’s public war with the Moss Park Arena, council voted 13-5 in favour of a slate of governance adjustments that apply only to the board of that hockey barn. That item was only hammered out last week after Moise abruptly abandoned his attempt to get the executive committee to back him in disbanding the arena’s board.
Earlier Wednesday, Moise withdrew a member’s motion that sought to remove the board’s members and replace them with a group that apparently included people who donated to his election campaigns.
It’s unclear who drew up that list of nominees as city representatives would not clarify that matter and the city’s public appointments staff, who are normally responsible for selecting volunteers to join city boards, declined to comment.
The Toronto Sun can confirm Moise informed the rest of council on Tuesday evening that he would pull his motion – presumably in the face of obvious opposition. Karin Fritzlar, who vice-chairs the arena board, said her group had spent the last few days reaching out to councillors, at least one of whom had promised to raise hell over that motion.
But council was more gracious with Moise when it came time to discuss Moss Park. Councillor Stephen Holyday, while expressing fears about the focus on one arena putting “a chill on volunteerism,” said “sometimes you have to give credit where credit is due.”
“Councillor Moise removed from the agenda a twin motion, and I found that to be a very important act of diplomacy and, frankly, the lowering of a sword,” Holyday said.
Still, he made it clear he wouldn’t support this plan.
“The recommendations from committee literally step us into the role of the board,” he said.
Burnside went further.
“I’m very disappointed, actually shocked that this motion in its entirety got through executive,” he said.
“Singling out” one arena board “does a disservice not only to the Moss Park Arena board, but the credibility of council,” he added.
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Paula Fletcher, a frequent ally of Moise, in an echo of her comments at the executive committee, expressed frustration with his withdrawn motion.
“I think a line got crossed here,” she said, “and I’m glad Councillor Moise withdrew that motion because it should never have been here on the floor of this council, identifying all those people.”
Moise pressed city bureaucrats about the arena’s emergency funding, and showed council photos of the facility’s disrepair, including a hockey stick being used as a makeshift lock on a door.
He said he wants “a clean facility, a safe facility,” but while serving on the board as ward councillor, the volunteers “consistently worked against me … They felt I was interfering.”
Referring to the images of decay, he asked: “What exactly do they do?” He complained that when he joined the board, none of its members lived in the ward, “and no one looked like me.”
But Frances Nunziata, who sits on another arena board, said if there’s a problem with maintenance, the local councillor should “bring it to the attention of the city.”
Anthony Perruzza, noting the amount of time spent by council on the matter, questioned the board management model.
“Maybe these places should be part of the city operations,” he said.