Rural mayor steps back citing 'lack of civility' at council table
Guy Quenneville | CBC News | Posted: March 16, 2025 8:00 AM | Last Updated: March 17
Another council member resigns following heated Rideau Lakes Township meetings
An eastern Ontario township whose council has been steeped in controversy has now had one of its members resign and its mayor say he needs to step back for a bit because of a "lack of civility" at the council table.
Mayor Arie Hoogenboom announced earlier this month he would be paring back his responsibilities at the Rideau Lakes Township council.
His decision followed a vote of non-confidence against him at a March 3 council meeting where 11 code of conduct complaints against a number of councillors were also addressed, following previous complaints last fall.
In the most recent complaints, an integrity commissioner found that four councillors had failed to show proper courtesy when they turned their backs on a resident addressing them at a council meeting last November. Another councillor was found to have shown Hoogenboom a significant lack of respect during a subsequent discussion about the same incident.
Hoogenboom told CBC the division at council has apparently scared away one recent hire of the township, located about 50 kilometres north of Kingston, Ont..
The mayor added it's also taken a toll on his emotional health and left some of his plans for the area deadlocked.
"Because there's a group of five that wish to undermine my leadership, I cannot move forward on any of those issues," he said. "I need to step away from these five members of council for a period of time to see whether I can continue on as mayor."
One councillor and Hoogenboom supporter, Joan Delaney, has gone a step further and announced her resignation after serving on council for six and a half years. She said she grew dismayed as meetings began to stretch on for hours.
"They were full of arguments, full of controversy, and very tiring.... I just felt that we weren't getting anywhere," she said. "We were on a treadmill and it wasn't working."
But Hoogenboom himself is being accused of causing what another councillor calls the "toxicity" at meetings.
Township office at issue
Councillor Paula Banks told CBC that Hoogenboom has imposed his opinions instead of building consensus at the council table, and has made divisive and misogynistic comments.
"And then he wonders why we come to meetings with our claws out," Banks said.
Hoogenboom said the misogynistic comment was made in jest, and that Banks and the others turning of their backs was "the most disrespectful thing I've ever seen in my 50-year career in municipal government."
Banks acknowledged that was inappropriate.
But Banks said the actions documented in the integrity commissioner's reports reflect a policy divide among councillors
"This isn't about being rude to a mayor," she said. "This is about not following the mayor's demand that we build a new office."
Mayor turns to province
Hoogenboom and other councillors have supported a plan to build a new township office in a more populated area of the township.
Banks and other councillors have questioned the project's cost and called for the current office to be retrofitted instead.
"The people of [my ward] elected me to find out the cost of fixing [the office], and that's what I plan on doing," Banks said.
Hoogenboom said he hopes his absence from council prompts "these five people" to become "a little bit more civil going forward with respect to other members of council, including myself."
He said the situation grew so dire that last week he suggested to the province that it vacate every seat on council, including his, and call for an early election.
"Although that would be a great step going forward, I don't anticipate that will happen," Hoogenboom said.