Council BooksSables-Spanish RiversOntarioSign inSubscribe
Not the full picture. Built from public records, which leave things out.Read by hand, Oct 2026DetailsThis is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date. Check the sources, and tell us if you spot a mistake. What this site can't tell you
Read by hand. We read Sables-Spanish Rivers's own documents for this site in October 2026; the Sources page lists which ones. The comparisons with other places still come from the Province's yearly reports.

Council

Who decides, and how you can hold them to account

Sables-Spanish Rivers is run by an elected council of 7 people. They set the budget, approve big purchases and hire the senior staff who run the town day to day.

Current council

  • MayorKevin Burke
  • Deputy MayorMike Mercieca
  • CouncillorCasimir Burns
  • CouncillorHarold Crabs
  • CouncillorThoma Crabs
  • CouncillorMerri-Ann Hobbs
  • CouncillorCheryl Phillips

Names and official email addresses from the town's council page. None of the members lists a public social media account there.

What council is paid

Every year the town has to publish what each council member was paid, and what was spent on their benefits and expenses. These are the totals from those statements, 2025 to 2025.

In 2025, the whole council cost $84,009 in pay, benefits and expenses, about $44 per home. The mayor's pay went up 0% from 2025 to 2025; prices went up 0% over the same years.
Pay, and benefits and expenses, for each council member by year
Member2025
Kevin Burke
Mayor		$14,520+ $3,358
Mike Mercieca
Deputy Mayor		$8,580+ $3,412
Casimir Burns
Councillor		$8,580+ $2,295
Harold Crabs
Councillor		$8,580+ $2,663
Thoma Crabs
Councillor		$8,580+ $2,104
Merri-Ann Hobbs
Councillor		$8,580+ $2,088
Cheryl Phillips
Councillor		$8,580+ $2,088

Top number: pay. Second number: benefits and expenses together, such as health cover, mileage, conferences and training. Exactly what goes in it differs a little from town to town; the note below says what this town’s statement includes. Some members take the town’s health plan and some do not, so a higher second number is not a problem by itself. The statements give only totals; the receipts behind them can be requested from the clerk.

Each year links to the town's statement. From the treasurer's statement of remuneration and expenses paid in 2025, given to Council on March 11, 2026 under the Municipal Act, 2001, s. 284, and paid under by-law 2025-11. "Pay" is the "Remuneration" column. "Other" is the rest of each member's total (benefits, travel allowance, wage compensation, mileage, meals and accommodation, conferences and training), worked out by us as the printed total less remuneration; the statement's own row sums match. The statement also lists amounts paid by two other bodies: $6,222.13 from the Manitoulin-Sudbury District Services Board to the mayor, and $400.00 from the OPP Detachment Board to one councillor. Those are not included in the table. We found the 2025 statement only.

How open is Sables-Spanish Rivers?

What a resident can find online without asking, as of October 7, 2026.

  • Partly
    Budgets posted online

    The taxation page lists budget reports and highlights for 2024, 2025 and 2026. The 2025 and 2026 budget books we found are both labelled "DRAFT" on their covers, and we did not find the budget Council adopted on April 22, 2026. Source

  • Yes
    Audited financial statements

    The 2025 consolidated statements carry a clean opinion ("present fairly") from Baker Tilly SNT LLP dated May 27, 2026. The 2024 statements carry the same kind of opinion, dated May 28, 2025. Source

  • Yes
    Council pay and expenses (s. 284)

    The treasurer's statement for 2025 was given to Council on March 11, 2026 and is attached to the minutes package of that meeting. We did not find it as a separate page. Source

  • Yes
    Meeting agendas and minutes

    Agendas and minutes are posted as PDFs, one page per year from 2019 to 2026. The 2026 page lists minutes up to September 23, 2026. Source

  • Yes
    Meeting videos

    The council page says all regular council meetings are livestreamed and posted on the Township's YouTube page. We did not check how many are kept. Source

  • Unknown
    Tender results

    The Township has a page for bids, tenders and requests for proposals. We did not find awarded contracts listed there and did not search the minutes for them. Source

  • Unknown
    Registry of declarations of interest

    We did not find a registry page. Minutes record that the mayor calls for declarations at each meeting; the March 25 and April 22, 2026 minutes record none declared. Source

Where the town speaks for itself

Sables-Spanish Rivers' official channels, as linked from its own website. Council members may also post on their own pages; we link only to official municipal channels.

Ask for the records

Anyone can ask the town for its records under Ontario's Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). You do not have to say why. Here is how it works, and the wording for the records that would answer the questions on this site.

  1. Send the request in writing to the town clerk (the freedom of information coordinator), on the town’s form or in a letter, with the $5 application fee.
  2. Describe the records, not the answer you want. Dates, departments and the kind of record (a list, invoices, emails) make a request quicker and cheaper.
  3. The town has 45 business days to answer (the law changed in 2026; older guides say 30 days). It can charge for search time and copies, but must send an estimate first if the fees will be over $25.
  4. Some parts can be held back, such as legal advice or personal information about other people. The town must say which part of the law it relied on.
  5. If you are refused, or the fees seem too high, you can appeal to the Information and Privacy Commissioner within 30 business days of the town’s decision.

The town's request form (on its Forms page) · The law · Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario

  • The adopted 2025 and 2026 budgets

    The books posted are marked draft, and Bylaw 2026-26 adopts estimates the public cannot match to a final document.

    Show the request wordingHide the wording
    Under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, I request the final operating and capital budgets for 2025 and 2026 as adopted by Council, including the schedule of estimates adopted by Bylaw 2026-26 and the tax levy calculation behind the $5,492,564 shown in that bylaw.

  • Plan to fund landfill closure and post-closure care

    The 2025 statements show $3,267,800 owing for landfill closure and care against a $734,316 reserve.

    Show the request wordingHide the wording
    Under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, I request any report, plan or schedule that estimates when the Tennyson landfill site will close, what closure and post-closure care will cost each year, and how the Township plans to pay for it, including the April 2, 2024 waste capacity study.

The wording is a starting point, not legal advice. Narrow the dates if the town says a request is too broad or too costly.

How to raise a concern

From the gentlest step to the most serious. Start at the top.

  1. Ontario Ombudsman (closed meetings)

    At its March 25, 2026 meeting Council received an Ombudsman's report of March 2026 about an investigation of a closed meeting. Council's motion says it accepts the Ombudsman's findings that Council did not violate the Municipal Act during the closed session, and that it will try to give more detail in its resolutions when moving into closed session. We did not read the Ombudsman's report itself.

  2. Code of Conduct and Integrity Commissioner

    The council page links a consolidated Code of Conduct and Integrity Commissioner document. The Township's local government page links a separate Integrity Commissioner file that is a scanned image; we could not read it and did not use it.