[1:29] Thanks for joining us everybody. U I

[1:30] will ask everyone to please silence cell

[1:32] phones and other electronic devices. You

[1:35] really don't want to be that person.

[1:38] You know, you know the one who rings at

[1:39] a funeral. You don't want to be that

[1:40] one. I call this special council meeting

[1:43] to order on Friday, August 28th at 100

[1:46] p.m.

[1:49] As we begin this afternoon's meeting, I

[1:51] wish to formally acknowledge the

[1:52] traditional keepers of this land and in

[1:55] particular our neighbors of the

[1:56] Alderville First Nation. We gather on

[1:58] the gunshot treaty lands of 1788. It was

[2:01] here on these lands and along the shores

[2:04] of the great beautiful lake called

[2:06] Ontario in Wendot or Hiron that the

[2:09] Missaga and Ashabek met with the crown

[2:12] to facilitate the opening of this

[2:13] territory for settlement. Today we meet

[2:16] as treaty people under the Williams

[2:17] treaty settlement of 2018. A modern

[2:19] affirmation of treaty rights and

[2:21] responsibilities that continues to guide

[2:23] our shared stewardship of these lands

[2:26] and waters. And may it offer a reminder

[2:28] that we work together in partnership and

[2:30] friendship with all the people of Turtle

[2:32] Island, which we call North America.

[2:35] I will need a motion. Do we have the

[2:37] motion forms? It's okay. I'll need a

[2:39] motion

[2:41] to approve the agenda for August 28th,

[2:44] 2026 special council meeting as

[2:46] presented. It's moved by councelor

[2:48] McColin. Second, councelor Butwell. Any

[2:51] discussion? All in favor?

[2:54] Any opposed? That motion's carried.

[2:58] Members of council, have you any

[2:59] declarations of interest? And if so,

[3:01] please state the general nature thereof.

[3:04] There are none noted.

[3:08] It is 1:02 p.m. We will recess this

[3:11] special council meeting until the

[3:12] arrival of the town supervisor and Mrs.

[3:14] Mey from from Brighton, New York. It

[3:18] should be about 10 minutes, we hope.

[40:39] Thank you for your patience and good

[40:41] afternoon. A warm welcome to all our

[40:43] residents and of course honored guests

[40:45] for joining us today.

[40:47] Today marks a truly special moment in

[40:49] the history of our municipality as we

[40:50] gather to officially twin the

[40:52] municipality of Brighton with our

[40:53] neighbors to the south, the town of

[40:54] Brighton, New York. I want to extend a

[40:57] special personal welcome to town

[40:58] supervisor Bill Mey and his wife Barbara

[41:01] for making the journey around the big

[41:02] beautiful lake to be here with us today

[41:04] and for helping bring this meaningful

[41:06] partnership to life. While an

[41:08] international border and the waters of

[41:10] Lake Ontario lie between us, our two

[41:12] communities have been connected by much

[41:13] more than just a name on a map. From our

[41:16] shared heritage tracing back to

[41:18] Brighton, England to decades of family

[41:20] histories, sport and crossber trade, the

[41:23] ties between our region and theirs run

[41:25] deep. In the 1800s, William Billinghurst

[41:29] named Brighton, New York after his home

[41:31] in England. And our first postmaster,

[41:34] Joseph Lockwood, named Brighton,

[41:35] Ontario, after his family roots in

[41:37] Britain.

[41:39] Over the generations, family lines

[41:41] crossed back and forth across the lake.

[41:43] Whether through the industrial boom of

[41:45] Rochester, a shared history at Presciel,

[41:48] sometimes involving rum running, or the

[41:50] historic Freeman yacht races that

[41:52] brought our shores together in a

[41:54] friendly competition. When I first

[41:56] reached out to Supervisor Mey in March

[41:58] of 2025 to open a dialogue, my core

[42:01] message was simple. We should build

[42:03] friendships before we need them.

[42:05] Although that letter was sent from a

[42:06] place of anxiety given talks of tariffs

[42:09] and concerning rhetoric, it also grew

[42:10] out of a bit of fun. For years, our

[42:13] libraries have occasionally swapped

[42:14] emails, redirected each other's patrons,

[42:17] shared social media banter, or began uh

[42:20] or or have been tagged by mistake

[42:22] because of very similar identities.

[42:26] It was a light-hearted point of

[42:27] connection, but underneath that shared

[42:29] um but underneath that shared name lay a

[42:32] rich interconnected history. So when we

[42:35] decided to dip our toes in the formal

[42:37] twinning pool, my thought was that in a

[42:39] world that can often feel divided,

[42:41] taking the time to proactively foster

[42:43] international goodwill and neighborly

[42:45] friendship was just good practice. Build

[42:48] the bridge before you need to cross it.

[42:50] Make the friend before you need them.

[42:53] What neither of us fully realized at the

[42:54] time was just how quickly that principle

[42:56] might be tested. On again, off-again

[42:58] trade talks and an increase in the tone

[43:00] of that concerning rhetoric continued.

[43:03] But on Wednesday, I received a phone

[43:05] call from Premier Ford encouraging this

[43:07] twinning. In a way that only our premier

[43:10] can he noted just how much in Ontario we

[43:13] love the American people with maybe one

[43:16] or two exceptions.

[43:18] But the premier was clear. He reminded

[43:20] me that while it is our duty to stand

[43:22] united as team Canada and stand firm as

[43:24] Canadians with Canadian interests, it is

[43:27] also our duty to reach across borders

[43:30] with a friendly hand to build

[43:31] relationships and be good neighbors. You

[43:34] see, my friends, two things can be true

[43:36] at the very same time. We can stand

[43:39] shoulder-to-shoulder as proud Canadians

[43:41] defending our national interests. And at

[43:43] the exact same time, we can welcome our

[43:45] neighbors across the lake with open

[43:47] arms, kindness, and respect. Real

[43:50] leadership at the local level means

[43:52] building the bridges that will allow us

[43:54] to walk forward together when these

[43:56] challenges pass, and they will. Having

[43:59] an open line of communication, and a

[44:01] trusted peer across the lake will prove

[44:03] invaluable. Being able to pick up the

[44:05] phone, share perspectives, and know

[44:07] there is a community directly across the

[44:09] water rooted in the same values of

[44:11] stewardship, pride, and public service

[44:14] reminds us that we don't and can't

[44:16] operate in isolation. Looking ahead,

[44:19] this twinning charter is far more than a

[44:21] ceremonial piece of paper. It is a

[44:23] working commitment for our future. By

[44:26] signing this charter today, we are

[44:27] opening doors for future exchanges

[44:29] between our schools, our cultural

[44:31] groups, our local businesses, and our

[44:33] civic organizations.

[44:35] We are creating opportunities for our

[44:37] youth to learn about crossber history,

[44:39] for our institutions to collaborate on

[44:41] Great Lakes stewardship, and for our

[44:43] residents to celebrate what makes both

[44:45] of our Brightons unique. When we build

[44:48] rel strong strong relationships rooted

[44:50] in goodwill, mutual respect, and

[44:52] neighborly spirit, our communities

[44:54] become more resilient, more connected,

[44:56] and better prepared for whatever our

[44:57] future holds.

[44:59] As the great dearly departed Dolly

[45:01] Parton once said, we can't just hope for

[45:04] a brighter future. We have to work for a

[45:07] brighter future. Today, by signing this

[45:10] charter, we are putting that work

[45:11] together. So again, thank you to town

[45:14] supervisor Bill Mey and to you Barbara,

[45:16] the staff on both sides of the border

[45:18] who helped connect us, in particular

[45:20] Deputy Clerk Burch for your hard work to

[45:22] make this charter and today happen, our

[45:24] council and the Brighton Town Board and

[45:27] everyone here today who believes in the

[45:28] power of community friendship. It is an

[45:31] honor to sign this charter with Bill and

[45:33] with our community support. And now it

[45:35] gives me great pleasure to introduce

[45:36] Brighton, New York Town Supervisor, Bill

[45:39] Mey.

[45:58] I

[46:00] I'm rarely lost for words, but the fact

[46:04] that Premier Ford has been a part of

[46:08] this ceremony brings home and should

[46:12] bring home to all of us on both sides of

[46:15] Lake Ontario.

[46:21] just how important this day is. I have,

[46:25] as I've been speaking about today, I've

[46:28] I've reminded people of the old bumper

[46:30] sticker, and I am old enough to remember

[46:33] the 60s, and I think I first saw this

[46:35] bumper sticker in the 60s.

[46:38] Think globally,

[46:40] act locally.

[46:42] We can't always change things in Ottawa.

[46:46] And trust me, I know I can't change

[46:48] things in Washington DC,

[46:52] but a couple of small towns on Lake

[46:55] Ontario,

[46:57] one in the United States, one in Canada,

[47:01] can by acting locally

[47:05] put into action the thoughts, the global

[47:09] thoughts, the global aspirations

[47:13] that we all have for our communities and

[47:17] for our nation

[47:20] to be able to to come together in this

[47:23] way. And I can't say enough in gratitude

[47:27] uh for Mayor Ostrander's original

[47:30] outreach when he told me he had reached

[47:32] out to all of the Brightons on our side

[47:36] of the border. That that

[47:39] rang home because I have lived along the

[47:42] border my entire life. I grew up in

[47:43] Detroit. hockey town.

[47:47] Um

[47:49] about 20 miles or 30 kilometers to our

[47:55] northwest

[47:56] was Brighton, Michigan.

[48:00] I've been to Brighton, Massachusetts.

[48:04] In fact, in New York, there are two

[48:05] Brightons.

[48:07] And believe me, if you think we get

[48:09] confused with Brighton, Ontario, you

[48:11] ought to see all the emails I get for

[48:12] the Aderondac Protection Commission and

[48:15] everything else. Franklin County,

[48:17] Brighton in the Aderandac somewhere

[48:19] north of Sarin Lake, um is a lovely

[48:22] little rural, beautiful, beautiful

[48:24] community. Uh but today what we have

[48:29] been able to do in this small way when

[48:32] we need it more than ever before

[48:37] ever since I received the mayor's letter

[48:40] what really struck me was the quote from

[48:45] President Kennedy

[48:47] speaking in Ottawa to the Canadian

[48:49] Parliament in 1961

[48:52] about friendship. ship

[48:55] and the how important it is that we be

[48:59] economic friends and allies and how

[49:03] important being an ally was in that

[49:06] world in the world of the cold war and

[49:08] the world that we have today. We can and

[49:12] we will be economic allies. Our nations

[49:15] can must and will be allies in this

[49:20] difficult world.

[49:22] But today,

[49:24] today, more than anything else at the

[49:28] local level,

[49:30] we can be friends. And we will be

[49:32] friends building on this relationship. I

[49:36] wish you could all see the social media

[49:40] from back in Brighton, New York.

[49:44] A lot of it triggered

[49:47] by a CBC radio interview that the mayor

[49:50] and I gave yesterday.

[49:52] which was heard by the mother of one of

[49:57] our TV news anchors who lives in

[50:00] Kingston.

[50:02] and he called me. We did even before we

[50:07] got the press release out, we we did an

[50:09] interview and the reaction was so strong

[50:14] and so positive about the fact that we

[50:17] were coming together and at the same

[50:19] time negative about this whole lake

[50:21] thing. Um, Lake Ontario, uh, Ontario

[50:26] Beach is where Rochesterians have gone

[50:30] for recreation, for fun for so many

[50:33] years. And that's not going to change.

[50:35] Ontario Beach, the legacy, the

[50:39] indigenous name that uh, generated

[50:43] Ontario.

[50:45] Um, but the reaction to it, the feeling

[50:49] of commonality was a beautiful thing to

[50:52] see. And what we're starting today, what

[50:55] what actually Mayor Ostrander started a

[50:57] little over a year ago will grow. We'll

[51:01] build our communities, maybe even

[51:03] another Brighton or two. Who knows?

[51:05] We'll get into the act.

[51:07] But whether it's the two of us,

[51:11] we will as communities and as nations

[51:14] continue to be allies, friends, and come

[51:18] together. And I look forward to the day

[51:22] and the opportunity for you to come

[51:26] visit us in Brighton, New York, because

[51:29] what we are starting today does not end

[51:32] today. It builds. It becomes greater.

[51:35] And I want to thank every single one of

[51:37] you for being here with us today. Mayor

[51:40] Ostrander especially. The gratitude I

[51:43] feel my my cup overflows. Thank you so

[51:46] much.

[51:58] Now, if I'm reading the agenda

[51:59] correctly, I calling on our history guy,

[52:02] Dan Buchanan, to give us a little uh

[52:05] tour around the history of of these two

[52:07] communities and maybe how we we uh or

[52:10] share some history.

[52:19] Well, welcome to our American friends.

[52:22] Welcome to Brighton.

[52:26] I kind of fancy myself a historian and I

[52:29] stay in my lane. So none of that other

[52:33] stuff. I'm going to just mention a few

[52:35] things about the connections

[52:38] historically between our two Brightons.

[52:42] Now the signing of the twinning charter

[52:44] between Brighton, New York and Brighton,

[52:46] Ontario is happening today um to a large

[52:49] for degree because of the commonality of

[52:51] the name. In fact, as I already

[52:54] mentioned, there are many Brightons in

[52:56] North America.

[52:59] And I kind of developed the idea that

[53:01] most of them are named after Brighton,

[53:02] England because for so long, Brighton

[53:05] England was known widely as a very

[53:08] popular um seaside resort where the

[53:11] royals showed up.

[53:14] And in the case of these two Brightons,

[53:17] it's very clear to say both were named

[53:20] after Brighton England. as mentioned by

[53:24] New York was named in 1814 by William

[53:26] Billinghurst who had lived in Brighton

[53:28] England.

[53:30] Brighton Ontario was named by Joseph

[53:32] Lockwood

[53:34] the first postmaster of the village of

[53:36] Brighton which had been created at a

[53:37] public meeting uh earlier in 1831.

[53:41] Now Joseph Lockwood was from Connecticut

[53:45] and the genealogy tells us that his

[53:48] ancestors several generations back were

[53:50] from Connecticut. Um, some would have

[53:53] been from Brighton earlier on, but I've

[53:56] yet to see that in the documents.

[53:58] But it does seem that he chose the name

[54:02] Brighton because of the high file of

[54:06] Brighton, England,

[54:08] and because of the aspirational nature

[54:12] of

[54:14] the thinking of people when we created

[54:16] this new village. because they knew we

[54:19] shared common geographical

[54:22] characteristics.

[54:23] Meaning it was a town that was on the

[54:25] edge of the water, Presciel Bay, Lake

[54:28] Ontario,

[54:30] and they were hoping it would get real

[54:32] powerful and popular.

[54:35] Now

[54:37] this is actually further supported by

[54:39] the next action that happened in the

[54:41] 1840s when the old town of Newcastle

[54:44] that had been impressed was renamed

[54:48] Gasport

[54:50] because that matches the fact that in

[54:53] Newport

[54:55] community was Gossport.

[54:57] So you really can't blame people for

[55:00] having their aspirations.

[55:03] But there's also a geographical

[55:04] connection.

[55:08] You know, Rochester is the largest city

[55:10] in America, closest to Brighton,

[55:11] Ontario, and

[55:15] Brighton, New York is a suburb of

[55:17] Rochester. You just need to look at a

[55:19] map. Look at a map of Lake Ontario.

[55:22] Brighton, Ontario here. Directly south

[55:24] across the Americas, Rochester and

[55:28] Brighton, New York. Now, that may not

[55:31] seem important today, but back in the

[55:34] day of schooner traffic,

[55:37] water connections were really critical.

[55:40] It think they were close together.

[55:45] Or there's another connection

[55:47] between the two Brightons. And this

[55:50] connection

[55:52] actually a lot of small connections

[55:55] that can be called family connections.

[56:00] Over several decades, I've done a lot of

[56:02] genealogy research, family tree research

[56:04] for families that lived around in the

[56:06] Brighton, Ontario area,

[56:09] and time after time, I came up with a

[56:11] common element

[56:14] in that period of from like the 1880s on

[56:17] up into the early decades of the 1900s.

[56:21] Many young people in Brighton, Ontario,

[56:24] when they were of looking for

[56:29] jobs, they would head across the lake to

[56:32] Rochester

[56:35] because

[56:37] they knew that there were jobs there in

[56:39] the industrial base of Rochester.

[56:43] And seeing many examples of this with

[56:46] different families in Brighton,

[56:48] I began to understand the importance of

[56:51] these connections that that created.

[56:54] The families that still lived in

[56:56] Brighton, stayed here, younger

[56:59] generation that moved to Rochester in

[57:02] New York.

[57:06] And also, I'm not going to get into

[57:07] details, but

[57:10] I've seen documents for many young

[57:12] people that moved to Rochester from

[57:14] Brighton, Ontario, and within just a few

[57:16] years of immigrating

[57:19] in the census records, they have jobs

[57:22] that could be called, what is it? One is

[57:25] engineer

[57:29] or film handler.

[57:33] The industrial complex around Rochester

[57:36] developed largely because of the growth,

[57:38] the massive growth of the Kodak company

[57:42] and of course the popularity of those

[57:44] campers that everybody loved.

[57:48] There were thousands of jobs created

[57:50] there and people flocked

[57:54] to that location to take advantage of

[57:56] the prosperity.

[57:59] And so many of those people that came to

[58:01] Rochester for that reason came from

[58:04] Brighton, Ontario.

[58:06] And the younger generation

[58:08] came to the Rochester area, got their

[58:11] jobs, settled down, were prosperous,

[58:15] and eventually were able to afford a

[58:17] house in the suburbs.

[58:19] One of those suburbs being Brighton, New

[58:22] York. So, we're in the connections

[58:24] between our town. Someone that we have

[58:27] to look for, but it's lovely to have

[58:31] our folks from Brighton, New York here

[58:34] today. Thanks very much.

[59:05] I just wanted to make sure Parker had

[1:00:47] Well, as is our as is our want. Is there

[1:00:49] uh anyone present who has a question

[1:00:51] with anything that appeared on this

[1:00:52] afternoon's agenda? I didn't think so.

[1:00:57] I have a motion moved by councelor

[1:00:58] Rowley, seconded by Deputy Mayor

[1:01:00] Anderson that council gives a bylaw its

[1:01:02] first, second, and third reading and

[1:01:04] finally passes on this date being a

[1:01:05] bylaw to confirm the proceedings of the

[1:01:07] Corporation of the Municipality of

[1:01:08] Brighton council meeting held on August

[1:01:10] 28th, 2026. Is there any discussion?

[1:01:12] Those in favor? There being none

[1:01:14] opposed? That motion's carried?

[1:01:19] And a motion moved by councelor Wen,

[1:01:20] seconded by councelor Wright that the

[1:01:21] August 28th, 2026 special council

[1:01:23] meeting adjourn at 2 p.m. Is there any

[1:01:27] discussion? All in favor? There being

[1:01:29] none opposed, that motion's carried.

[1:01:32] Thank you everyone. We are united,

[1:01:34] strong, and free. And may God save the

[1:01:35] king. Thank you.

Special Council Meeting - 28 Aug 2026

Transcript