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North Bay city councillor Tanya Vrebosch recently put forward two motions to council regarding the boards of Cassellholme and Castle Arms, calling for a review of by-laws regarding the structures of the boards and for more involvement with the member municipalities who contribute to the operation of the facilities.
North Bay’s previous city council passed a resolution to hire a consultant to provide a review of the steps needed to transition Cassellholme to a city owned long term care home. During its January 31st meeting, North Bay’s current council received a motion that would see the city’s interim chief administrative officer bring forward a report to council to provide an update on that review, no later than March 28th.
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Councillor Tanya Vrebosch put forward the motion. She mentioned that the consultant’s review is underway, but “we’ve never seen that report.” Her motion aimed to set a strict timeline to deliver that document. “Let’s bring it forward, and make the decision” about whether or not the city will take over the facility.
Councillor Gary Gardiner suggested the motion be moved to the general governance committee “so that we can discuss this in more detail,” and council agreed. Vrebosch noted that she “hoped to see” that arrive on the committee’s agenda “very soon.”
Vrebosch also put forward a motion regarding Castle Arms. In 1986, the board of management running Cassellholme at the time created the non-profit senior’s apartment corporation, which they christened Castle Arms. More than 250 seniors in North Bay and Mattawa live in the five buildings Castle Arms owns.
This motion outlined how “historically the members of the Cassellholme Board of Management have been the same members of the Castle Arms Board of Management.” However, in June of 2021, the Castle Arms Board created an ad hoc committee to “review and modernize” its by-laws and governance materials. It was decided that “effective three years from Oct. 19, 2021,” Cassellholme and Castle Arms “must have separate board members,” Vrebosch’s motion explained.
Her motion also detailed how “there has been no communication or consultation with the City of North Bay or any of the other eight member Municipalities prior to amendment of the Castle Arms by-law and corporate governance,” and currently, “it appears that the member municipalities no longer have representation on the Castle Arms Board.”
Her motion concluded with a list of suggestions, beginning with sending a copy of the motion to all municipalities who contribute to Cassellholme’s operation. The motion also called to have the interim CAO review the amendments of the by-laws governing the Cassellholme and Castle Arms boards, specifically “the requirement” that each board should have different members.
All member municipalities would also be invited to participate in the review and suggest updates if deemed necessary. Those findings of the CAO would then be reviewed by North Bay’s city council and the member municipalities as well.
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“It concerns me that there was no communication from the Castle Arms board,” Vrebosch said. She expressed concern that without representation from member municipalities on the board, they are being left out of decisions concerning “25 to 30 million in assets”—the Castle Arms’ holdings.
Without proper representation, “we no longer have care and control of Castle Arms,” and she hoped council would help bring about some transparency on the issue. “What happened to Castle Arms? Why do we not have municipal representation on it anymore?”
Mayor Peter Chirico reminded all that he sits on the Cassellholme Board, along with Councillors Mark King and Chris Mayne. He mentioned they are all working “to get representation on the Castle Arms board,” in a process that “is open and transparent” which ensures the assets held by Castle Arms stays within the control of the municipalities “that contributed to building that.”
“We are working on that issue,” Mayor Chirico explained, “and this resolution does not fall on deaf ears.” He then assured the public that he planned to meet with those member municipalities to discuss the issues Vrebosch laid out in her motion.
As for the motion, it too was referred to the general governance committee for further discussion.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
