A pair of delegations made to Lanark County’s Community Services meeting Wednesday night incensed many councillors as they felt the presentations showed no respect to them or their staff.
One delegation came from Lanark County Community Action Network’s (LCCAN) Wendy Shatner who had social housing concerns. Shatner called for a review of the number of frontline case workers, saying they need to be “trained to deal with people in a respectful and courteous manner,” and claimed those in social housing are fearful of calling the county case workers because of their “confrontational manner,” and they feel “disrespected.”
Warden John Fenik took exception to Shatner’s comments, as well as those from the second presenter on the topic of rent-geared-to-income units, Shannon Lee Mannion.
Lanark County CAO Kurt Greaves noted this is not the first exchange between the county and LCCAN, an organization not associated with the county.
Earlier this year the group sent a letter to the county highlighting various concerns and received a response back.
Councilor Christa Lowry opened the remarks, and said the presentations missed the mark.
Mannion’s delegation surrounded the topic of rent-geared-to-income units.
Councilor Sharon Mousseau said both presentations were filled with inaccuracies and found irony in the call for respect by Mannion and Shatner.
Councilor Sean Redmond said respect is a two-way street.
Councilor Richard Kidd made a motion that passed unanimously to direct staff to create a report to find ways to educate the public on the misinformation and myths surrounding affordable housing in the county, and look into creating a process where complaints from residents are filed and investigated.
Story by Grant Deme
The unedited audio from each presentation and the response from the county can be found below.
Wendy Shatner, Lanark County Community Action Network:
Shannon Lee Mannion:
County council responds to the delegations:
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