For this post, I am going to do things a little different…I am going to start from the end of the meeting – yesterday an article arose from one of our local news outlets that seems to be factually incorrect (it appears as though this article has since been updated, however)…so I thought I should start by reporting what actually happened at the end of Monday’s Council Meeting.

It was reported that the Deputy Mayor breached procedural bylaws and “seized the power” to adjourn the meeting after the mayor had called for a break. In the article from The Orangeville Banner, they reported that Mayor Williams had said “I don’t think he should’ve taken over because a break was called. That was improper. The deputy mayor did not follow procedure.” and that “When somebody breaks procedural policy and takes over a meeting when they have no right, that’s concerning.” In The Banner’s article, Mayor Williams had also suggested that he had merely stepped outside to “get a Gravol” as he had been under the weather.

Let’s flip back to reality now…here’s what actually happened. Was Mayor Williams under the weather? Yup. He was late arriving to the meeting because he had actually called in sick…however changed his mind and decided to come. Was Deputy Mayor Maycock “seizing the power”? Nope. Did he break protocol? I would say no. And here is why.

If you take a few minutes and watch the meeting (which is available online on Rogers – click here) – Don’t worry, you don’t have to watch the whole thing…just fast-forward to the end…with a few minutes to spare. You will hear Mayor Williams say “At the end of bylaws, I think I shall take my leave and hand over the reigns once agin to Deputy Mayor Maycock and I thank you for that.” And as the vote to approve the bylaws is happening, Mayor Williams is seen packing up his laptop and such. At the end of the vote, Mayor Williams calls a 5 minute recess and immediately, the clerk leans over and says something to the Mayor. (likely asking why the heck you would call a 5 minute recess when the only thing left on the agenda is adjournment…but I’m just speculating there…) The Mayor then says there is a motion to adjourn moved and seconded…Councillor Wilson put up his hand and states that he wanted to move a motion to continue the closed portion of the meeting and while he was mid-sentence, he was {quite rudely} interrupted by the Mayor who banged his gavel, called a 5-minute recess and left.

At that point, a very stunned and awkward silence filled the chambers. And puzzled looks were being shared by members of Council, Town Staff AND the members of the public and media that were still present. It was odd. It was awkward. It was baffling. A couple of minutes passed, and the Deputy Mayor took the chair (as he was told previously by the Mayor that he would be) and asked for a motion to adjourn which was moved, seconded and voted in favour of unanimously.

I know the story sounds better when it would seem that the Deputy Mayor went rogue…but that’s just simply NOT how it all played out. Watch it…you’ll see.

In my humble opinions, what is very clear is that the issues with Council have not improved. There still appears to be the need to create drama rather than focusing on the task at hand…RUNNING THE TOWN!!

More Procedural Issues?

Councillor Sylvia Bradley had some issues with the procedural bylaws not being followed at the prior meeting on November 28th. Her biggest concern was impartiality – specifically with the discussion regarding the contract with the Citizen as well as the discussion about the “kill switch” as brought up by Mark Whitcombe at the previous meeting. There was also concern about procedure not being followed when a member of council “called the vote” at the previous meeting – according to the procedural bylaw, when a member calls for the vote, discussion must cease and the vote be taken. However, at the last meeting, a lengthy discussion continued after a vote was called. Councillor Bradley felt that as Chair, it was the Mayor’s responsibility to maintain order and ensure that procedures are followed. She stated that she hopes going forward, there will be a return to decorum in the New Year. Mayor Williams replied that he has tried to be pretty lenient as Chair and that everyone has bent the rules of procedure at some point.

Age-Friendly Community

A 3-yr strategic action plan was presented to Council by Councillor Scott Wilson as chair of the Age-Friendly Committee. The plan includes identifying the areas that the Town of Orangeville needs to prioritize to ensure that Orangeville can gain status as an Age-Friendly Community – A vibrant and safe community where we can all age with dignity, respect and purpose. Many areas were identified as strengths in the community but there was also a number of opportunities that were recognized. The action plan presentation with all of the priorities outlined can be found here

Donor Clinic

A local resident needs our help – Wayne Bryan is battling leukemia and requires a bone marrow transplant. TODAY, Wednesday, December 14th, there is a swab clinic being help from 3pm-8pm at DCAFS Building at 655 Riddell Rd. If you are between the ages of 18-35, pop in and get swabbed…you could be his match and help to save his life! If you are unable to attend, or don’t fall into the correct age group, there are other ways to help – Attend a blood donor clinic that is being held on December 28th at The Best Western in Orangeville from 3pm to 8pm!

Stockings for Seniors

In a previous post, I sent out a call to action and challenged each one of you to stuff a stocking for a senior. The response has been GREAT, but there is still more needed. At this very moment, Tracy Haworth still needs 250 stockings over the 6 days to ensure that every senior will get a stocking this Christmas! For information on how to give, or what to give, visit this link! And drop your donations off at 158 Parkview Drive in Orangeville. HURRY – There is still time!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

I would like to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas! May your holidays be bright and full of love and time spent with family!!

Monday’s meeting allocated some time at the start of the meeting to recognize two amazing Orangeville residents…Ralph Harkies was recognized as Orangeville’s Senior of the Year and Molly Mullin was recognized as Orangeville’s Youth of the Year! Congratulations!  I’d like to send out a big THANK YOU to both of them for all of the love and dedication they have given to Orangeville by giving back to the community in various ways! Thank you! People like you are what makes Orangeville such an amazing place!

Overnight Winter Parking over Christmas

As you may recall, last year was an exceptionally mild winter – with no snow in the forecast, it was decided that there would be a short amnesty from the winter parking regulations over the Christmas Holidays. This year, a number of residents have already sent letters in to the Town and the topic has been circulating over social media, requesting the same amnesty over the 2016 Christmas season. There was some discussion and some input from the Director of Public Works, Doug Jones and at the end of the discussion, Council chose to simply receive the correspondence. So as of now, there will be no lift to the overnight parking bylaw over Christmas. How do you feel about the winter parking issue?

Censorship of Orangeville’s Residents

In a previous post, I made you all aware of a concern that was voiced by Orangeville resident, Mark Whitcombe regarding a “kill switch” that is manned by the Mayor and when pressed will mute all microphones in Council Chambers with the exception of the Mayor’s. Mr. Whitcombe believes he was the victim of the switch being used by Mayor Williams when he was addressing Council at the November 8th Strategic Planning session. Mr. Whitcombe has requested that answers be given as to why the use of this switch is in the hands of an elected official and has posed the inquiry of whether the switch could instead be in control of the Town Clerk. When asked, the Clerk, Susan Greatrix said that if the switch were in her control, it would only be appropriate for her to activate it under Council’s direction. Mayor Williams had not publicly confirmed or denied Mr. Whitcombe’s allegation until a recent post on in a local Facebook group where he states: “side note: I’ve never used it. Councillor Kidd claims Adams used it to censor him last term, and I know Mary Rose says she used it for audio feedback issues. In my opinion the issue is dumb. Yes I have my ‘finger on the button’ in case things go wrong, but it won’t launch the nukes right? Know what I’m sayin’? #MountainsMolehills )”

The issue is being reviewed by town staff and they will come back with a report and perhaps some recommendations will come back with it.

FINALLY! A Crosswalk will be installed by Westside Secondary

Mr. Hollywood, the father of the Westside Secondary School student that was recently struck by a vehicle on Alder St while crossing in front of the school spoke up at Question Period to plead with Council to install a safe crossing for the hundreds of students that cross Alder St at Montgomery Rd every day. At the end of September, Philip McClosky, a teacher at Westside delivered a presentation to Council addressing the need for a crosswalk at Alder and Montgomery and also presented a petition signed by almost 600 students who agreed. At the September meeting, Council directed staff to look into options and come back with a report and recommendations. On Monday, the report came back to Council with a number of recommendations and Council voted in favour of a “Pedestrian Crossover” which will have all of the road markings plus an overhead post (similar to a traffic light in style), that will have lights to warn motorists of an upcoming crosswalk. The cost to install is approx. $25,000 and installation will likely take place in the spring.

Print Advertising

Council approved the continuation of publishing the weekly Town Page and other Town advertising in the Orangeville Citizen at the cost of $47,000 per year.  In a fairly unorthodox presentation to Council, a member of the Orangeville Banner’s advertising sales team delivered a sales pitch to the members of Council suggesting that the Orangeville Banner be allowed to bid on this again and alluding that they could offer ‘more’ to the Town for $7200 less. When the Town changed over to The Orangeville Citizen after a tender in 2014, the cost to the The Town to continue with The Orangeville Banner would have at that time been almost double what they were offered by The Orangeville Citizen. So, until February 2018 for sure, you will continue to find the Town Page and other Town advertising in The Orangeville Citizen.

People of Orangeville

Have you all seen the ‘Humans of New York‘ website? It is honestly one of my faves! In the upcoming weeks, as part of In My Humble Opinions, I will be doing a weekly “People of Orangeville” feature. We live in such a AMAZING community and I am excited to be starting this project to shine some light on some of the awesome people that are around our Town!! So, here is where you come in! Is there someone you know in Orangeville who you think would be an awesome feature for this project? Someone who is an inspirational leader? A volunteer? A great nurse? An amazing business owner? Someone who you think has a super cool story to share? PLEASE – send me your suggestions! Send an email to inmyhumbleopinionsorangeville@gmail.com with your nominee’s name, contact info and why you think they would be a great feature in my blog!! I am SOOO Excited to get started!!

Next Council Meeting

Back on topic….the next Council Meeting will be held on Monday, December 12th at 7pm at Orangeville’s Town Hall! Hope to see you there!!

Monday’s Council Meeting began on an interesting note. Orangeville resident, Mark Whitcombe spoke at Question Period to question Council, and specifically Mayor Williams, about the way that he was treated at the November 8th Strategic Planning Council Meeting. Mr. Whitcombe had gotten up to speak at that meeting to ask some questions about the primary concern that had been identified at all of the Strategic Planning Sessions, which was regarding “Corporate Leadership” aka the issues of divisiveness and lack of cooperation of Council.

During Mr. Whitcombe’s question, his microphone was cut off, seemingly by the Mayor, while he was speaking. Mr. Whitcombe stated that this was a public meeting, and public input was welcomed. He has also confirmed with the Town Staff that there is a switch, by the Mayor, that if activated cuts all microphones with the exception of the Mayors. Mr. Whitcombe stated “My questions are, and I’m thinking that these questions deserve fuller attention as soon as possible, and possibly by the Integrity Commissioner. Why does such a switch exist? Why was it’s existence largely or completely unknown? Why, if such a switch is deemed necessary, surely it should be under the control of the Town Clerk, rather than an elected officer of the people. To allow an elected officer that level of control is indistinguishable from censorship and muzzling of the public voice.”

No one from Council responded to Mr. Whitcombe’s concerns. I would love to hear your opinions on this…do you think it is appropriate for any elected official to cut off a resident’s mic? In my humble opinion, Mr. Whitcombe was addressing council in a very respectful and appropriate manner. He never raised his voice, or called anyone names…he simply wanted to address the concern…which should be his tax-paying right…don’t you think?

York Street Residents Speak Out

All of the residents of York Street attended Monday’s Council Meeting to address the Town in regards to the upcoming road work that is scheduled in the upcoming months for York Street. The initial road work called for the widening of York Street from its current 7 metres to the standard 8 metres. Residents want to ensure that the character and charm of York Street are maintained and by leaving it as it is would be one way to preserve the heritage. Council voted on a motion to only accept engineering plans for maintaining the 7 metre width.

It was so nice to see all of these residents band together to plea their case and the support came in droves!

Request from PSB goes Sideways

In another strange moment at Council, a motion was put forward to transfer $50,000 from the Police Services Operating Budget to its Capital Budget for the purchase of a new motorcycle. As per the Police Services Act, the role of the Police Service Board (PSB) is to determine how the police budget is spent and that Council has no jurisdiction over how the money is allocated.

In the 2016 year, the Police are operating at a significant surplus and were requesting that $50,000 be transferred into Capital for the above mentioned purpose. Council took it upon themselves to present all of the reasons why the Police should NOT be purchasing a motorcycle…Councillor Bradley called it a “nice-to-have item” and not a “must-have”. And the discussion continued with the suggestion that perhaps bicycles would be a better choice.

Councillor Campbell called this a “housekeeping” item and reminded Council that they are not authorized to dictate how the PSB spends it budget. The motion to transfer the funds failed with only Councillor Campbell, Deputy Mayor Maycock and Mayor Williams voting in favour. I am certain this will not be the last we hear of this issue.

Seems as though Council doesn’t seem to want to spend money on public safety this year – first it was the requests for enhanced fire services and now the dictating of what policing equipment is required…In my humble opinion, it is time to stop spending money on consultants and start using those funds for the items that matter and that keep our residents safe.

Next Council Meeting

The next Council Meeting is coming up on Monday, November 28th at 7pm inside Town Hall

 

Budget Passes

On Monday night the budget *almost* officially passed. I say *almost* only because it still requires an official bylaw to pass it. The increase we will see this year is 3.5%, which is about $100 per year on the average home valued at $320k…I anticipate that there will likely be some more discussion at the next meeting on Monday before the bylaw passes. Councillor Kidd and Deputy Mayor Maycock voted against the budget while Councillors Wilson, Bradley, Campbell and Mayor Williams voted in favour. Councillor Garisto was absent.

Councillor Bradley shared that she is pleased with the level of increase considering the huge cost of the enhancement to the Transit service.  Mayor Williams was pleased with the speed at which the budget was completed this year stating that this is the first time that a budget has been completed in November which will give staff the benefit of time.

Stay tuned for the next Council Meeting on Monday, November 14th at Town Hall for the budget officially passing.

What’s your thoughts? How do you feel about 3.5%?

Strategic Plan

This year, Orangeville undertook the task of creating a strategic plan. A consultant from Queens University was hired to facilitate the creation of the plan and to execute the many levels of the plan. There is a survey available online for all residents to complete – but hurry…it closes on Friday, November 11th! CLICK HERE to access the survey and have your voice heard!!!

As well as the survey, there were also two stakeholder sessions held (one of which I was fortunate enough to take part in) as well as a session for Town of Orangeville Management and finally on Tuesday, a workshop for Council. All information from all facets will be compiled and will directly result in the draft of the strategic plan.

I was interested to see that the information that was presented from both stakeholder sessions (approx 30 people) as well as the compiled information from the surveys so far (over 400 surveys) aligned very closely. Below you will see some of the findings:

Session One:

Session Two:

Survey Results of Priorities Ranked in Order of Importance:

For the Council Session that took place at 5:30pm on Tuesday, Councillors Wilson and Garisto were absent. Council was presented the results and then were asked to contribute by voting on their priorities and ranking them in order of importance to themselves.

In order to complete this task, every member of Council was given a laptop with the ‘ThinkTank’ brainstorming software installed on it, which records your votes as you input them and prioritizes responses based on number of people who felt it was a priority. As the first question was asked, Mayor Williams declined participating in the voting because he felt that it was a breach of Council’s bylaws. The Clerk was asked for comment, and she assured everyone that they had spoken to the legal team to ensure that there was no issues and there was no issue with everyone’s participation. Despite that knowledge, the Mayor still declined to participate. Councillors Bradley, Campbell, Kidd and Deputy Mayor Maycock all participated.

It will be interesting to see what the final results are when the draft of the strategic plan is presented to Council in early 2017. Here’s hoping this isn’t just another item that is “received” and put on a shelf somewhere in Town Hall.

Have you done the survey? What do you think the priorities for the Town need to be? Are you aligned with what was identified as Strengths and Opportunities? Anything else you think needs to be added to the list on either side?

 

 

Budget talks started for Town of Orangeville Council on Monday night with the introduction of the Operating Budget. Tuesday night there was another Budget Meeting to continue some of Monday’s conversations and to start the conversations about the Capital Budget.

In my last post, I questioned some of the conversations on social media calling it a zero percent increase after the Treasurer had talked about it being a 4.5% increase. THANK YOU to Councillor Scott Wilson for starting the budget talks by calling that out and calling a spade a spade. “We had the quick summary from Mr. Villeneuve at our last meeting and some comments were made about a 4.5% increase. Social media has it reported that there will be a Zero % real increase in taxes in 2017 and I understand that to mean that taxes will not go up. I have contacted the treasurer and he has clarified that as the budget stands right now with no changes, taxes will go up.” Councillor Wilson said and explained the 1% being covered by growth and the other 3.5% being covered by existing taxpayers “Everybody’s assessment is phased in. Therefore everybody will be having a property assessment increase. Therefore everybody will be having a property tax increase. That message has to get out to the public because the way it has been portrayed on social media is that there is no increase in property taxes in 2017. That is something we’ve got to make clear is that right now there is an increase proposed and we have to reduce at least $1.1 million from the proposal to increase the likelihood that there won’t be a property tax increase in 2017.”

Mayor Williams continues to defend that this IS in fact zero percent – on social media, he continues to call this “simple math” and his comment in reply to Councillor Wilson was “It’s like most numbers, you can look at it all sorts of different ways.” and continued on to say “I think we’re at a good level (of services) and I think most people are happy with it. To me, a budget that stays within that and stays within inflation, to me that is ideal. That is zero.”

So here is the thing about math, in my humble opinion. Math is black and white. Nowhere in math is 4.5% the same as 0%. Nowhere in math is inflation the same as zero percent…unless of course inflation rates are actually 0%. In school, math is not open for interpretation in the same way english is. While I’m glad to hear that the assessments will cover a great deal of the cost to taxpayers, to imply that it is the same as Zero is just deceitful marketing and clever manipulation of numbers. If the average household will see at least $125 increase on their annual taxes, that’s not zero. I don’t know about everyone else in Orangeville, but I am getting pretty tired of the wordsmith games to make it all sound good. Let’s try putting the politics aside and try some honesty instead.

I don’t care how you spin the numbers or choose to ‘interpret’ them…4.5% (or now 4.7% after Tuesday’s meeting) IS NOT zero percent.

Fire Department Budget

There was an in-depth discussion through both Monday and Tuesday’s meetings about one of the items that was added into the Operating Budget this year…the hiring of 4 Full-Time Firefighters. This was an item from the Fire Master Plan that was presented to Council back in 2015 and explained that 10 Firefighters would have to be hired over a 3-year time span to ensure timely response times and to ensure the safety of the Town Residents and also the safety of the firefighters.  Now don’t get me wrong…this venture is not a cheap one. But I have to say, with the growth Orangeville has seen, it seems to me that this is the direction our Fire Department should be going.

On Tuesday, Councillor Campbell put forward a motion to include the hiring of 4 firefighters in 2017. The motion failed with only Councillors Campbell & Wilson voting in favour. Deputy Mayor Maycock then put forward a motion to defer this item to the 2018 budget and requested that staff bring a report with a full business model for the Fire Department – this motion passed 5-2 with Councillors Campbell and Wilson voting against. So, there will be no changes to the current Fire Department in 2017.

I’d love to know what you think of this…do you think it is time for our Fire Department to grow into a 24-hour full-time department?

Reserves – The dirty word

Throughout 2016, money was taken from reserves for 2 items and motions were made at previous Council meetings to repay that money during the 2017 budget. A motion was put forward by Mayor Williams to forgo repaying that money to reserves (totalling around $330,000). Councillors Wilson, Campbell and Kidd very quickly spoke up stating that this was the wrong direction and the reason that the motions were put forward at prior meetings was to ensure the reserves weren’t being depleted with no intentions of repayment. Councillor Garisto spoke up stating that he was ready to put forward a motion to take $1 million dollars out of the reserve contributions…thankfully he garnished no support for that idea.

I am continually baffled at how there is no recommendations to actually REDUCE SPENDING and instead the thought process seems to head to reserves. Keep spending more….stop saving….Where is the logic in that?!?! I want to see relief in my taxes…but I also want to see our Town prosper….and yes there are ways to make both things happen – we just need Council to make some tough decisions.

End of Day 2

So, by the end of Tuesday, the Operating Budget has been approved, but there is still some work to do on the Capital Budget and as such, the motion to approve that part of the budget was defeated. The next budget meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 7th, 2016.

I want to hear from you! What would you like to see happen before this budget is approved? Are you okay with yet another increase? Share your thoughts!!

Outdoor Wood Burning Bylaw Carries

It has been a source of angst in Orangeville for the past year with many discussions both in favour of and against and after Monday’s council meeting, the discussions have ended with the creation of a new bylaw. The bylaw includes the following provisions (which were voted on at the September 26th meeting):

 

To all of you who have been so supportive (especially over the last couple weeks), THANK YOU! Whether you chose to support me by publicly commenting or signing the petition or you chose to privately support me though emails, messages or a high-five when I ran into you in the grocery store, I appreciate you all more than you’ll likely know. I knew I was opening myself up to great criticism by being so publicly vocal about the frustrations we are experiencing with our Town Council, but I could no longer sit back and let them waste their time and our money on all of the petty infighting.

Let me be clear. This was NOT an attack on Orangeville. This was NOT an attack on any one member of council. In fact, this was not an attack at all. It was more of a plea…a plea for our Council to put their personal differences aside, treat each other with respect, and take Orangeville to the next level. I was expecting that my letter would not be well-received and as I spoke at Council about impact vs intent, I hoped that the message would be clear. I received a number of comments from Council, some of which I agreed with, and others not so much.

“Democracy is often messy.” Councillor Wilson said, “It’s much easier to be critical of our performance when you aren’t at the microphone, when you don’t sit around the horseshoe.” I agree with Councillor Wilson that democracy can be messy and that passion for an issue can take over…however, I still believe that passion can be respectful and productive.

Councillor Bradley said “I find it offensive to say that we aren’t doing our jobs. Because we are indeed doing our jobs, we wouldn’t receive award after award after award if we weren’t doing our jobs.” Councillor Bradley, Orangeville is a great community and well-deserving of the many awards that have been won – the volunteers on the committees involved as well as the Council member who is assigned that portfolio work unbelievably hard to make this happen…I don’t discredit that at all – nor did I in my letter. Again, I just ask for more professional conduct!!

Councillor Kidd said “For Ms. Post to say that this Council has done nothing is an absolute insult to this Council and an absolute insult to the people of Orangeville.” Nope…I didn’t say that either….Councillor Kidd, Did you even read my letter?

“I see someone who is abusing the system to come here – you ran in the last election and I know you’re running in the next election.” said Mayor Williams before leaning over to the Clerk to ask…”Can I say crap? Or will that get me in trouble with the Integrity Commissioner? My first instinct is that a lot of it (referring to the letter and petition) is a pile of crap.” Hmmm…I’m a bit confused by some of these comments. First and foremost, I am a tax-paying resident of Orangeville…in fact, my husband and I bought our first house almost 20 years ago…the fact that I ran for council 2 years ago means that my opinion as a tax-payer is no longer valuable? Mr. Mayor, I am totally ok with you thinking that I did this for my “political platform”…you are entitled to your opinions…as am I. What I am not ok with however, is your blatant dismissal of my concern…and the concerns of others. I know getting a bad performance review doesn’t feel nice, but that’s when you take the feedback and use it as a growth opportunity…not where you dismiss it as “crap”.

Anyways, onwards and upwards!

Outdoor Wood-Burning By-Law Discussion

After close to a year of discussion about updating the Outdoor Wood-Burning By-Law, the discussion isn’t quite over yet. At Monday’s meeting, the proposed new by-law was presented and broken down piece by piece and voted on separately. First off, they voted to repeal the current bylaw to make room for a new one.  (No new bylaw was passed on Monday, they will be bringing it to a full vote on Monday, October 17th) Each section was voted on separately – my notes are in red.

So, as previously mentioned, the bylaw with the revisions from Monday night will be presented to Council at its next meeting for a vote as a complete bylaw. So, as residents you do still have time to have your voice heard before Council officially votes on the new bylaw.

I know this is a hot topic, on both sides of the argument…What do you think about the changes and revisions? What would you rather see?

 

Its no secret that things at Orangeville Town Hall have been less than pleasant over the last 2 years of this Council’s 4-year term. In just the last couple of weeks, us residents have seen a criminal investigation, the beginnings of a lawsuit aimed at the Town (and possibly the Mayor), and now an investigation by the newly hired Integrity Commissioner.

In my humble opinions, enough is enough. I am fed up with Town Council’s blatant disregard for their duties to us as taxpayers. It’s time to #TakeBackOrangeville. In municipal government, there is unfortunately no official ‘Vote of Non-Confidence’ as there is in parliament…however, I have drafted a petition entitled ‘Take Back Orangeville – A Vote of Non-Confidence in Our Town Council’ that I would like to present at Council at the next meeting on Monday, September 26th, 2016. If you are fed up with the shenanigans at Town Hall, click HERE to sign the petition! I have sent the following open letter to all members of Council:

 

Dear Mayor Williams and Members of Council,

Thank you for your service to the Town of Orangeville. These last two years have been entertaining but it is time to bring this circus to a close. Two years ago, each one of you ran on platforms that included making Orangeville a better place, and you have broken that promise to the electorate. Your own personal agendas and desires to fuel animosity and infighting have clouded your vision. Two years ago, the electorate voted you into office to be our representatives, to be the voice of the taxpayer and to serve with our best interests in mind. You are not fulfilling the duties you were elected to.

As a taxpayer, I want someone in your seats that is a proven leader, who has a clear plan to make Orangeville better and who has the means, the intent and the skills to execute that plan. Instead, your decorum inside Council chambers has been deplorable and as a result, Orangeville has been reduced to being the ‘laughing-stock of Ontario’. The childish political games have made waves across the media, both in the papers and on social media and clearly show that there are no leaders among you. There is no means or intentions to execute a plan in fact currently no plan exists.

There has been little effort to improve our financial situation, little effort to bring new industry to Town as was promised and no relief to residents with our ever-growing property tax situation. Instead, we have received half-truths, at best. We have seen self-serving ‘well-timed’ politics, aimed solely for individual political standing and a clear disrespect for the seats you were elected to be in. The seats you sit it are seats that should be shown respect. They are not seats to be sat in by those who wish to abuse the power that the electorate has bestowed upon you.

Orangeville has had the misfortune of seeing scandals, investigations, childish schoolyard tactics, an alarming abuse of taxpayer’s money, and a clear violation of public trust. We all watched two years ago as a new Council was formed and with that always comes some rocky times. The fact remains that the issues you had on your inaugural day have not improved, instead the situation at Town Hall continues to decline, to the detriment of the residents. While I recognize and acknowledge that each of you have made contributions to the Town, collectively the divisiveness of Council has been and will continue to be a detriment to our community.

The 7 of you clearly have irreconcilable differences and this leaves the residents of Orangeville in limbo. If the next 2 years are left unchanged, I fear that the Town and its residents will suffer. Unfortunately, the Municipal Act, unlike parliament, does not have a vote of non-confidence, however, I have included a petition that has the names and signatures of ____________ residents who have lost confidence in your abilities to represent us. With all due respect and for the betterment of the Town, I am asking each of you to tender your resignations and call for a new election immediately.

 

Sincerely,

Lisa Post

Your Support is Needed

If you are as frustrated as me, please click the link to the survey https://www.change.org/p/town-of-orangeville-council-take-back-orangeville-a-vote-of-non-confidence-in-our-town-council and sign your name! Make sure to share the survey to your friends on Facebook and Twitter and use the hashtag #TakeBackOrangeville .My goal is to collect 5,000 signatures before Monday’s meeting. Let’s let them know how we, the electorate are feeling!

I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments!

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, September 8th, The Orangeville Banner released an article titled ‘Peel Cops Clear Mayor Williams of any credit card wrongdoing’. Instantly, social media erupted in a frenzy of congratulations to the Mayor and with that of course came the conspiracy theories. The accusations go as far as saying that previous Mayor Rob Adams has been the puppet master…that Deputy Mayor Maycock led the whole charade for his own gain…that the ‘4’ Councillors are working together to “get rid of the Mayor”….basically that it is all just a ‘Witchhunt’.

I read the story (and of course the social media following) but have been waiting for a little more information to come out before I shared my humble opinions on the matter.

More information did come out at last night’s Town of Orangeville Council Meeting when Council voted in favour of waiving their Attorney/Client privilege on the report that was presented to Council back in March 2016 that led to Council directing the CAO to have Peel Regional Police to begin an investigation into the Mayor’s credit card use. This motion was brought forward by Deputy Mayor Maycock and when he was asked why he would table a motion of this nature, he responded by acknowledging that the public perception is that Council makes decisions on a whim and he thinks it is only fair to share with the public the legal advice they received before pursuing a criminal investigation. His motion passed with a clear majority…in fact, the only person who voted against having the report released was Mayor Williams.

Now this report is an interesting one. It really shows there are a number of sides to every story. In a Facebook post on March 17th, 2016, Mayor Williams posted his account of the story basically claiming ignorance – “There also was no official policy or agreement given me with the card to explain a procedure for use of the card.” Well the report from the Town’s lawyers tells a very different story. The legal report speaks to the number of documented conversations that the CAO and other Town Staff had with the Mayor beginning in August 2015 about the proper procedures surrounding the credit card such as procedures for claiming mileage (via a mileage log – as per the Town Bylaws), proper procedures for office expenses (as per the Town Bylaws), as well as the Town’s policy on personal expenditures. Yet, after these documented conversations, there continued to be unauthorized purchases made…which is why the Town of Orangeville’s legal counsel sent the report to Council recommending that they pursue a criminal investigation with the Peel Police Department.

When my son was 3 years old, he used to love to throw rocks. We would give him trouble day after day and yet he would continue to throw rocks. His intent was not to hurt anyone. His intent was not to cause any damage, but yet the moment we turned our backs, he would throw another rock. And we would start another lecture about how inappropriate his behaviour was and how eventually he was going to hurt someone or something. Mayor Williams, STOP THROWING ROCKS!!!!

Now, I know it is easy to blame Deputy Mayor for being the ‘RingLeader’ in this ‘Witchhunt’…the division in Council has been apparent since Day 1. This report from legal shows that the Town of Orangeville Auditors were the ones who initially raised concerns. At what point are we going to demand some onus on the Mayor for his actions? For violating our trust in his integrity? Whether you like and support the Mayor is irrelevant in this case – in my humble opinion, this was a clear breach of public trust and I am upset with Mayor Williams that he caused me (and the rest of the citizens of Orangeville) to question his integrity.

I am however happy to report that it was confirmed at last night’s Council Meeting that there will be no charge to the Town of Orangeville from the Peel Police Department for conducting the investigation.

I have received information from the Town Clerk that the report will not be posted on the Town of Orangeville website, however if you are wishing to obtain a copy, it will be available by request by emailing Susan Greatrix at sgreatrix@orangeville.ca 

I would love to hear how you feel about the entire situation…