Council fixes the pests!

Finally Cobourg Council has figured out how to business in public while meeting in semi-secret, free from from the public that want to say something - ban delegations, but not really banning them! The system is easy and was probably designed by the person who had recently signed out the latest edition of "Catch 22" by Joseph Heller from the public library. It works like this - anyone wanting to speak to Council must provide a copy of the presentation being made to the Town Hall by the end of business on Wednesday of the week preceding the council meeting. One big problem; if one suspects that the item that you wish to talk about is on the agenda you cannot find out until 2.30pm the next day.

What a delicious touch of bureaucracy, the only problem is that it is probably illegal and a violation of the Charter of Rights, but who has any money to test that piece of paper. The first person to be caught in this paper maze is Keith Oliver. Wanting to file a response about the report that replied to his public submission about the application to build a Home Depot, he was told by a member of the Town's staff that he must file his presentation before being allowed to be put on the agenda. Not having time to respond or even having a copy of the report because the agenda had not been published he will not be submitting a rebuttal. But he sure is vexed!

Of course this rule can easily be got around - just file a presentation in point form and elaborate at Council, but that would mean that Council members would have to read the agenda to find out what was going on, some hope of that!

It looks like the fix is in

From media reports about the discussion at County Council about the Policing Report it looks as though the nod will go to a County-wide OPP system. West Northumberland has little chance of influencing the outcome now that Mayor Forrest Rowden has pooh poohed the idea of a W-N concept. This will be the out that Mayor Delanty is looking for - get rid of a troublesome Town department that he has little interest in cleaning up and then blame it on the County pols. The losers will be the citizens of Cobourg in losing service levels.

However there is a chance for the masses to do something. Put a question on the ballot on November - "Do want Cobourg to be policed by the OPP", Yes or No.

The process of putting a question on the ballot needs swift action as time is running out for the process to kick in. Section 28 of the Municipal Act says that a question may be put on the ballot but a by-law has to be passed 180 days before the voting day. That means that the process must be started at least a month before that to allow a public meeting and a bylaw to be passed. Effectively that means that because 180 days is May 10th the process must start immediately as 10 days notice for the bylaw is required. So hop to it and get it done! If a request to Council is not received by April 24th forget it and we will lose the local police.

Ouch - Lou Rinaldi gets a 2*4 across the head

Check this out - a story from the The Independent Online

Duh!

So who wears the goat horns today. I bet the commander of the surveillance detachment of the Durham Police that saw three officers pull away from a murder scene because they thought there might be a party instead of the conclusion of a drug deal has some on. It would have been a helluva party with $400,000 worth of cocaine.

You only get what you pay for!

There was a case of vandalism in Hamilton Township on Sunday, a schoolbus had its windows smashed. But because of municipal pennypinching the victims have never seen a policeman to date. In what seems to be the norm in rural policing the incident was phoned in and a statement was taken over the phone.The police didn't have much time to look at the scene, even if they wanted to as the bus was towed away on Monday.

The way Hamilton Township is being policed may be cheaper but it certainly isn't very user friendly. Besides did the Township really get what they paid for. The Cobourg detachment was beefed up by 12 transferees, that works out to three extra on each shift, Cobourg devoted more time and attention than that.

Is the road to succession being paved?

Deputy Mayor Spooner is quietly telling the news outlets, a source in one of the news outlets confirmed this, that a "major announcement" concerning his intentions for the fall election will be issued on June 27th. Now why the big date? Perhaps that it is going to be a two part announcement: one he will be leaving and two that the senior councillor, by virtue of vote getting as opposed to longevity - Gil Brocanier, will be stepping into the shoes of the Deputy Mayor.

Such a move would obviously please the Mayor as stability will be assured. He, I am told, will be stating his intentions after his vacation in a few weeks time.

This week's happenings

Apart from the media gushing about the budgets of the local municipalities, not much else to report. But what about those budgets? It seems that the Province has made everybody look good. The County gets money for roads and bridges as well land ambulance and the Town gets R&B money too. So without doing much the Town's budget drops to 2.5% and all the pols are happy. But look a little deeper and you will find that spending has gone up 4.7% so much for frugalism! The last report had the much maligned seniors centre costing us $40,000 a year to operated and a 3% tax increase to build. I did hear that the way through Council is not quite as smooth as Councillor Brocanier thinks it is.

Another wrinkle in the Cobourg Police saga - the Acting Chief is going to retire. That leaves us with a real chief and somebody who is going to be chief. I wonder when the Board will settle this? Perhaps they are waiting for the lawyers to come back to Council, as the final approval agency, with a palateable settlement. Again more money spent to correct human foibles.

Oh to be the local MPP

One of the problems of being a local MPP is one of relevance. The fact that one sits on Parliament and acts as well as a trained seal does nothing for the reputation of being a free spirit. Take our own MPP Lou Rinaldi, as the Mayor of Brighton facing a Tory MPP he was a veritable pit bull. Arguing for more money from the Province, complaining about the Provincial rules imposed by a high-handed government and always, especially during the election campaign, implying that things would be better. So what has Lou done since he became the grand poobah at Queen's Park? Not much!, but that all changed this week when he pushed a private members bill past second reading. This bill mandates that all outdoor swimming pools must meet Provincial standards. When asked for comment he admitted that this bill will not supercede Municipal bylaws and when also asked he admitted that he knew of no Municipality that doesn't have a bylaw. So the question is asked why do we need a bill! I guess because Lou needs a legacy, the problem is that this legacy like Lou at most times is redundant.

So whose ox was gored?

Today it was reported that local businessman Stan Jarvis, of Lakeland Multitrade, wrote a letter to Council wherein he complained about the activities of local activists, Keith Oliver and Manfred Schumann. He extolled the virtues of free enterprise and asked that Council proceed full steam ahead with large projects like the Home Depot project activists be damned! Well the question being asked today was,"Is this businessman worried about the loss of big development or the loss of a big steel contract?"

Who's going to run for Council in Cobourg?

Interesting question as we now have one person who wants to be a Mayor, the real Mayor isn't saying if he wants to run again, though I do know that the 4 year term is a daunting prospect for the grandfather at the helm. But on the other hand I keep hearing rumblings that there is money for "winnable" candidates. People out there want change and some of them are willing to pay for it. So if you know of anybody who wants to run and needs sponsorship just email me and I'll pass the name on.