Springwater mayor defends undocumented meetings over land proposal
By: Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: BarrieToday.com, Oct 25, 2025
Announced two years ago, the City of Barrie’s boundary adjustment proposal to Springwater and Oro-Medonte townships should be wrapped up within the next couple of weeks.
According to a news release that was posted to Springwater Township’s website Friday afternoon, the proposal will be brought forward again to Springwater council for consideration on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 6:30 p.m.
“I can confirm that the Office of the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator has requested that all parties bring forward the City of Barrie final boundary adjustment proposal to their councils for consideration,” Renee Ainsworth, deputy chief administrative officer for Springwater Township, said in an email to BarrieToday on Friday.
“The agenda will be posted late next week.”
BarrieToday reached out to officials in Oro-Medonte to confirm when they will hold their vote on the proposal but did not hear back before this story was published.
If the votes are held during the first week of November, they will put an end to a process that’s been criticized by residents and local politicians alike for its lack of transparency and public engagement, and behind-closed-door conversations.
Throughout the process, allegations and accusations of hiding information or presenting false information have run rampant.
During Springwater’s Oct. 15 council meeting, a member of the public demanded to know what was said between Springwater Mayor Jennifer Coughlin and Oro-Medonte Mayor Randy Greenlaw during a meeting they had more than two-and-a-half years ago, eight months before Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall made his comments about the city’s need for more land, on Nov. 6, 2023, when he spoke to the standing committee on heritage, infrastructure and cultural policy during a meeting in Barrie.
The resident quoted a comment that was delivered via a third party and wanted to know if it was true.
Coughlin told the resident she remembered being at a meeting in Oro-Medonte but couldn’t recall what was discussed.
“The correspondence you’re speaking to was provided to this council as a recollection of an individual of a meeting that happened two or three years ago,” she said. “I do remember being at the meeting, but I have no recollection or notes or any way of saying what I did or I didn’t say.”
During an interview with BarrieToday on Friday, Coughlin addressed that meeting and a number of others that occurred prior to Nuttall’s Nov. 6, 2023, announcement.
According to a report from Springwater’s IT manager called City of Barrie Boundary Adjustment Mapping Investigation, delivered for council’s consideration on Oct. 15, there were nine meetings in 2023 that were held before Nuttall made his initial announcement.
The first meeting was held between Coughlin and Nuttall on Jan. 12, 2023. It was regarding cross-border servicing. According to the report, there were no minutes or record kept of what was discussed. The calendar invite stated “lunch with Nuttall.”
The second meeting, a week later on Jan. 19, was held at Greenlaw’s office and included Coughlin and Nuttall. The calendar entry was “Alex Nuttall @ Greenlaw’s office.” There were no minutes or record kept of what was discussed.
On Jan. 30, Coughlin, Springwater’s then-chief administrative officer and the township’s director of planning had an internal meeting called “Industrial Lands – City of Barrie – Discussion.” There were no minutes or records kept of what was discussed.
On Feb. 9, the City of Barrie hosted a meeting that was attended by the mayor, chief administrative officer and staff from all three municipalities. The calendar invite for that meeting stated “Industrial Land Development.” No minutes or records of what was discussed could be located, according to the report.
On Feb. 15 and March 15, there were two closed sessions of Springwater council — the topic of both meetings was “Inter-municipal relationships” and confidential direction was provided to staff.
On Aug. 17 and Sept. 13, there were meetings labelled “Meeting with Mayor Nuttall” — the first was held in the Springwater council chamber and included Coughlin, Springwater Deputy Mayor George Cabral, then-chief administrative officer Jeff Schmidt and Nuttall.
The second meeting was held at the City of Barrie and included Coughlin, Cabral, Schmidt, Nuttall and Barrie’s deputy mayor, Robert Thomson.
Again, according to the IT manager’s report, there are no minutes or records of what was discussed during either of those meetings.
The last meeting in the report happened Sept. 28. During a closed session, the City of Barrie presented the proposed boundary adjustment to Springwater council.
The presentation was later made publicly available via a staff report on Nov. 15, 2023.
BarrieToday reached out to Greenlaw and Nuttall to confirm their attendance at these meetings and provide information on what was discussed.
“I would suggest you reach out to Mayor Nuttall and Mayor Coughlin for clarity first,” Greenlaw said in an email.
Officials from the City of Barrie referred questions to Springwater Township, noting the report was generated by Springwater staff.
Coughlin said the report shows she was doing her job.
“It’s my job to network, to meet with people and discuss things,” she said. “The direction I have is that I will meet with people, and if there is something of interest or an opportunity for the township, I will bring it back to council.”
She said she doesn’t have the authority, even under strong mayor powers, to commit the township to any direction — that’s council’s job.
“There’s no ability to make a unilateral decision on something like this,” she said.
Asked why there are no minutes or records kept of what was discussed, Coughlin said the meetings were not substantive enough to document.
She said minutes are required for all official meetings of council but not for casual meetings or conversations between heads of councils that would be considered “networking” opportunities.
She said those conversations go on regularly whenever politicians gather — at another mayor’s golf tournament, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario’s annual convention, or county council, where the mayors and deputy mayors of all municipal councils gather.
“Building relationships is what politics is,” Coughlin said. “The county actually holds a conference called networking because they encourage members to get to know each other and to work together.”