Retired journalist concerned about Stratford resident bans pens open letter to council

The resident whose presentation to a City of Stratford subcommittee meeting this week ended shortly after it began is not going away quietly.

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“I’m going to do what I can. I’m one person, but I think it’s important that democracy is everyone’s responsibility, so I’m taking mine seriously. I hope other people will too,” retired journalist Robert Roth said in Friday interview.

Roth, the former editor of Inside Stratford Perth and a founder of the now-defunct Stratford Gazette, was set to speak Tuesday to the city’s finance and labor relations subcommittee, voicing his opposition to recent actions by the city and council. However, he never got the chance.

Roth had barely started his personal introduction when Coun. Mark Hunter, the meeting’s chair, made a motion for adjournment because Mike Sullivan, one of three residents banned from municipal buildings until July 3, was in the gallery. This was the second meeting since the ban was implemented that had been abruptly canceled due to Sullivan’s presence.

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Denied the opportunity to give his presentation, Roth has since sent an open letter to city council expressing his frustrations. In the letter, Roth claims he tried to reach advisors to share his concerns in several different ways.

“Given the frustrations I have encountered, I am appealing to you individually with this open letter requesting that you withdraw the applicability within the council chambers of the Respect in the Workplace Policy,” Roth wrote in opposition to the policy under which Sullivan and the others received their bans.

Sullivan and two others, Barb Shaughnessy and Ken Wood, were banned following a Feb. 26 council meeting for what city officials have described, without providing specifics, as “disrespectful, derogatory, inappropriate and vexatious behavior.”

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In his letter, Roth also expressed frustration that he was directed to speak to the subcommittee instead of the full council. In emails obtained by the Beacon Herald, Roth was told his delegation “would be most appropriately heard at a future finance and labor relations subcommittee meeting.”

“Such muzzling of a citizen’s right to challenge public policies and processes is a travesty,” Roth wrote.

“Staff authority is council-delegated authority. And with delegated authority comes delegated accountability. They are the flip side of the same coin. Hence, every decision made by City Hall — whether by council or senior staff — is a political decision. But I don’t blame staff. The buck stops with you, the advisors,” Roth added in his letter.

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However, this forum was suggested because Roth was planning to speak about a workplace policy, which is a labor matter, Stratford clerk Tatiana Dafoe explained to the Beacon Herald. Although Hunter said in an interview this week that application of this respect in the workplace policy is a staff decision, the impacts of that decision rest with council, Roth said.

“When you can expel somebody from the council chambers, that’s a political decision that politicians are accountable for. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to challenge anything. They could just say, ‘well, it’s a staff position.’ These guys are better at washing their hands than Pontius Pilate,” Roth said in the interview.

Roth, who has served on municipal councils in Aurora and the former township of Charlottenburgh, said that council chambers are not a workplace, but a public forum where citizens should have the right to criticize decisions of council.

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“It comes with the territory. (If people) say, “you don’t know what you’re doing; it’s a dumb policy. Why are you doing this stupid thing?’ And you know what you do, you take it because you’re representing them. They have a right to criticize you. And what you do, you don’t ban them. You say, ‘OK, I disagree with you. Here’s why.’ You have dialogue. You have debated. You don’t have banishment. That’s how democracy works,” he said in the interview.

With the ban set to end in less than two weeks, Roth said he’s unsure of his next course of action about this issue.

“I’m not sure what more I can do. I’ll look at my options and see whether it’s productive because I could go to the next meeting, and it could get closed. . . . It’s up to them to make the changes, and they now know what the situation is and what my view is. I don’t think anyone will listen. Honestly, I’m not sure. I guess it depends, to some extent, on the answer I get,” he said

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