Police were called to Tuesday night’s Alnwick/Haldimand Township council meeting in Grafton when residents in the gallery became disruptive and failed to heed warning to stop. 

The disturbance happened during a conversation about short term rentals. The report from Fire Chief Dave Dawson suggested council make a decision on whether to implement a short-term rental bylaw before staff proceeds with more work. That decision wasn’t expected Tuesday night, and Deputy Mayor Joan Stover said the report was likely to be deferred to a future meeting. The deputy mayor did suggest at one point a bylaw was likely close to being finalized which provoked the disturbance from the gallery, including short-term rental owners who are currently unregulated.

Stover, who was chairing the meeting as Mayor John Logel was attending virtually, said she hasn’t witnessed anything like what transpired during her tenure in municipal government before.

Stover maintains she believes it’s important for council to formalize a bylaw to regulate short-term rentals in the municipality.

Acting CAO and Clerk Pat Kemp says all remaining agenda items left unaddressed, other than the short-term rentals report, will be moved to next Tuesday’s municipal planning meeting.

The short-term rentals report will be delayed until a future meeting, but the date remains unknown at this time. 

The next regular council meeting isn’t until Sept. 5.

Listen here to the radio report: