The mayor of Windsor is insisting a decision to revert retail space to parking space in the Pelissier St parking garage was done in accordance with the municipal act.
Mayor Drew Dilkens is responding after the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association hired a lawyer to file an application in court to quash the resolution and it will be filing a complaint with the Ombudsman.
As AM 800 news reported yesterday, the DWBIA argued the vote should have been made in public session, not in camera on November 7th.
Mayor Dilkens says only one proponent came forward to take over the space and the decision that followed to convert it to parking spots was a "natural extension of the issue." He says no one during the in-camera meeting asked for the vote to be made in public session.
"No one was trying to hide anything," says Mayor Dilkens. "It was widely reported and when the BIA heard this they said it was a secret meeting which it wasn't."
Mayor Dilkens says the issue will be discussed in public session November 28th where a new vote will take place.
"For the DWBIA to know that we are going to have a public conversation on the matter to go out and hire a lawyer to go to court to challenge a decision seems preposterous in light of the fact that we are going to have a public conversation about this.
The city had ear-marked $500,000 for the parking garage.