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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by hand, Oct 2026DetailsThis is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date.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 Tecumseh'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

Tecumseh 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

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, 2023 to 2025.

In 2025, the whole council cost $379,899 in pay, benefits and expenses, about $42 per home. The mayor's pay went up 27% from 2023 to 2025; prices went up 5% over the same years.
Pay, and benefits and expenses, for each council member by year
Member202520242023
Gary McNamara
Mayor		$70,621+ $17,781$70,413+ $21,973$55,763+ $20,292
Joe Bachetti
Deputy Mayor		$43,389+ $18,885$42,437+ $21,527$42,403+ $18,900
Brian Houston
Councillor, Ward 4		$33,754+ $5,952$32,229+ $5,764$31,269+ $2,581
Ricardo (Rico) Tonial
Councillor, Ward 3		$34,834+ $17,399$33,373+ $17,508$32,632+ $13,259
Alicia Higgison
Councillor, Ward 1		$33,515+ $13,371$32,349+ $14,656$33,231+ $17,028
Tania Jobin
Councillor, Ward 5		$32,795+ $11,869$31,270+ $11,709$31,269+ $10,084
James Dorner
Councillor, Ward 2		$34,594+ $11,140$34,398+ $13,762$32,032+ $7,353

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 Town's yearly statements of remuneration and expenses (Municipal Act, 2001, s. 284), read from the text layer. "Pay" is the statement's "Total Wages - Council" (salary, lieu of pension and stipend or per diem). "Other" is benefits and expenses, worked out as the printed "Remuneration and Expenses Total" less pay, so each member's two figures add to the printed total. Totals match the printed council totals within $2 of rounding. Fees from outside boards (Essex Power, the OPP Detachment Board, the Essex Region Conservation Authority) are listed separately in the statements and are not included here.

How open is Tecumseh?

What a resident can find online without asking, as of October 5, 2026.

  • Yes
    Budgets posted online

    The 2026 adopted budget (as presented to Council February 10, 2026) and the 2026 proposed budget are on the budget page, with approved budgets for 2020 to 2025 on an archive page. The Town has a 2027 budget timeline on the same page. Source

  • Yes
    Audited financial statements

    The 2025 consolidated statements carry a clean opinion ("present fairly") from KPMG LLP dated July 29, 2026. The 2024 statements are posted with an auditor's report that is also dated July 28, 2026, a year and a half after the year end; the statements do not say why. Statements back to 2020 are on the archive page. Source

  • Yes
    Council pay and expenses (s. 284)

    Yearly statements for 2021 to 2025 are posted on the council page. The Town says the previous year's statement is published each March 30; the 2025 statement is dated February 27, 2026. Source

  • Unknown
    Meeting agendas and minutes

    Agendas and minutes are on an eScribe portal. The home page loaded, but the meeting list is loaded by script and we did not read any minutes or agendas. The portal's robots.txt blocks only one named crawler. Source

  • Partly
    Live video of council meetings

    The council page says meetings are streamed live on the Town's website under a live streaming policy. We did not check whether past meetings stay online. Source

  • Yes
    Conflict of interest declarations

    The council page lists declarations as individual PDFs by member and meeting date. We did not read them. Source

  • Unknown
    Integrity Commissioner reports

    The Town names its Integrity Commissioner, but we did not find any reports on the pages we read. Source

Where the town speaks for itself

Tecumseh's 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

  • Projects in "assets under construction" at December 31, 2025

    The statements show $79,414,440 under construction but not which projects it is made of. Related question: Why did unfinished construction more than double in 2025, from $33.2 million to $79.4 million, and why did cash fall by $13.7 million?.

    Show the request wordingHide the wording
    Under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, I request the schedule of projects making up "Assets under construction" of $79,414,440 at December 31, 2025, showing for each project its approved budget, costs to date and expected in-service date.

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. Integrity Commissioner

    The Town says it has an independent Integrity Commissioner (provided by ADR Chambers Inc.) who investigates complaints under the Code of Conduct and the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. A $125 fee applies to a complaint and is refunded if the complaint is found valid. The page says the Commissioner cannot receive new complaints during the election period, until after voting day on October 26, 2026. We did not find any Integrity Commissioner reports on the pages we read. The 2026 budget has a reserve of $35,000 for "Meeting Investigator/ Integrity Commissioner" costs.

  2. Code of Conduct and complaint procedure

    The Town posts its Code of Conduct for Members of Council and Local Boards (Policy 63) and a complaint procedure package.