In My Humble Opinions

Town of Orangeville Council Meeting – Monday, April 24th, 2017

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Not surprisingly, a substantial portion of Monday’s meeting was comprised of continued discussions about Orangeville policing. At the Police Services Board Meeting on April 18th, 2017, a consultant hired by the Police Association did a presentation to the Board that discredited the Treasurer’s financial analysis. This presentation was a sore spot for a few Council members and they spoke up on Monday about their concerns. Councillor Gail Campbell, who is a member of the Police Services Board expressed her disappointment that this presentation was done calling it “antagonistic and personally disrespectful to our Treasurer”. She also expressed concern that the Treasurer was not given the opportunity to respond to the allegations and was not even invited to participate in the meeting. She also made it clear that the Board was not made aware of the contents of this delegation and its contents prior to that Board meeting. In Councillor Campbell’s opinion, this presentation should have been made to the governing body of Council and NOT to the Police Services Board. Her opinion is that the presentation was “marred and diminished” by an attack on a senior staff member of the Town of Orangeville.

Sergeant Fry, President of the Orangeville Police Association, spoke up in defence of the consultant’s credentials and stated that the Police Association was and is concerned by the confusion that surrounds the OPP costing in the community and therefore had requested that the matter be reviewed by a subject matter expert to review the long-term implications. Sergeant Fry also stated that he hopes that Council will consider getting an independent consultant to review the costs before making a final decision on the matter at hand.

Councillor Sylvia Bradley spoke about her concerns from the presentation as well. She was concerned about his credentials as a retired police officer. She stated that she found it “disgusting” that they hired someone to discredit the Treasurer and if they had wanted to hire someone, they should have hired someone who was “competent”. Councillor Bradley also said that “They {the police} are there to serve and protect the public, the people of Orangeville. They’re not there to serve and protect their self-interests and I’m seeing that this is what’s happening here.” Councillor Bradley went on to say that a number of officers are afraid to speak out publicly to voice their concerns and desires for fear of reprisal. “I certainly hope that I will not be getting special attention now because I have spoken out.” Councillor Bradley said. She then stated that she feels that the Union now owes an apology to the Treasurer.

BDO was next up on the agenda to do their presentation which was basically confirming the accuracy of the Treasurer’s analysis based on the numbers he had available to him. One key point they did add was that they they would like to speak to OPP as they have some questions to ask.

So, where do we go from here? The public meeting is being held Thursday, April 27th from 7-9:30pm at ODSS in the cafeteria. Representatives from both OPS and OPP will be there to answer any of your questions. If you are unable to attend, you can tune in live on Rogers TV (Channel 63) and please don’t forget that you can still send you questions or comments to oppcosting@orangeville.ca and to each member of Council individually at the email addresses below:

  • jwilliams@orangeville.ca
  • wmaycock@orangeville.ca
  • swilson@orangeville.ca
  • sbradley@orangeville.ca
  • gcampbell@orangeville.ca
  • dkidd@orangeville.ca
  • ngaristo@orangeville.ca
  • sgreatrix@orangeville.ca (Town Clerk)

Please have your voices heard! Decision time is coming soon and our community is very divided on the topic.

Urban Slide

Did you have a chance to try out the Urban Slide at last years’ Founders Day? What were your thoughts? The plan this year was to pair the Urban Slide up with a beer garden and Caribbean Festival on Mill St hosted by the BIA. However, at Monday’s council meeting, Council chose to simply ‘receive’ the information and no motion was passed to go ahead with the slide this year. Concerns about cost were brought forward and when asked what the costs were to run it last year, it was minimal…Doug Jones, Director of Public Works, estimated that it cost the Town approximately $2000-$2500 to host the event.

What do you think? Should they have gone ahead with the slide again this year?

Next Meetings

The next important dates you need to be aware of are Thursday, April 27th at 7pm at ODSS for the public meeting and the next regular council meeting on Monday, May 8th at 7pm at Town Hall. And don’t forget to send you comments and questions to Council! My next blog post will review the information from Thursdays public meeting and I will post as many questions and answers as possible.

OPS Presentation to Council – Monday, April 3rd, 2017

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After the OPP Costing Presentation on Monday, February 13th, 2017, Council requested that OPS be given the opportunity to present to Council as well.

This presentation was not so much about the cost of OPS as a service…The cost as well as the 5 year projected budget are readily available to you as public information documents on the Town of Orangeville Website. This presentation was more about the heart of the force, the journey the force has been on since Wayne Kalinski’s reign as Chief began, and where the force is planning to go for the years to come.

I think you all know by now my feelings about the Chief…In my eyes, he is one of the best leaders this Town has ever seen – and here is why. As a leader, he came onto OPS at one of its most difficult times. He jumped in with both feet and presented a vision for OPS that included Community Involvement and Fiscal Responsibility. We’ve seen his vision come to light over the last almost 3 years…In my 25+ years in Orangeville, I don’t remember a time when we’ve ever had officers and the Chief be so immersed in the community and in the last 3 budgets, we have seen a reduction in cost year over year.

But what was so super cool about this presentation to Council is that as you listened to Sergeant McLagan and Sergeant Fry both address Council, you could hear the Chief’s influence in their words. What the Chief has done far surpasses what I believe his initial vision was….through his passion, his vision has become an entire culture within the department. This makes me so confident that when he, one day (hopefully many many years from now), decides to retire, that culture will be so deeply engrained in the officers and civilians alike, that they will not skip a beat to carry on his vision for the force.

Ok, back to the presentation…

4:50

Sergeant McLagan began his presentation with this number – 4:50. 4:50 represents OPS’ average response time. This is the most important factor in a life or death situation and Orangeville Police Service has the ability to deliver such a great response time as a result of the Stand-Alone model of policing that is currently what we see with OPS. The feeling of Community was very present in Sergeant McLagan’s presentation as he spoke about every officer being immersed in the community as residents, hockey coaches, soccer coaches, volunteers, big brothers and big sisters. He also outlined that officers come from many different areas: OPP, Toronto Police, Peel Police, York Regional Police, RCMP and so on.

Sergeant Fry has been an officer with OPS for 20 years and before that was an officer for OPP for 20 years. His presentation to Council on behalf of the Police Association began by stating that the last time the Police Association addressed Council was in 2014 when they felt the need to publicly highlight the lack of leadership and fiscal responsibility and now they felt it necessary to address Council to celebrate and highlight the progress and transformation of OPS.  “I would respectfully submit that our community has everything to gain, and nothing to lose, by standing down, at least for a while, and turning down the OPP proposal.” His presentation asked a very reasonable question. “I urge you to consider the implications of choosing to be the first to sign under this new model. Is it prudent to trust their new costing model that is unproven? It does not offer cost certainty.” And I do think that is a valid question…do we, Orangeville residents, want to be the guinea pigs for this new costing model? Or does it make more sense to consider this option in 5 years time when other municipalities have been through the process from the very beginning?

Show Me The Money $$

A special shout-out to our Treasurer, Mr. Villeneuve and to our CAO, Mr. Brennan for their diligent work in putting together a cost analysis. The amount of work you put into gathering data and doing a cost comparison was obvious in your presentation.

The data comes down to this: According to all of the information that could be sourced, the OPP is projected to come in approx $4-$5m LESS than our current OPS. Currently, according to the data presented, over 85% of municipalities currently serviced by the OPP pay less than $416 per property while currently, under OPS, we are paying approx $865 per property.

Mr. Villeneuve was clear to state that this was a financial analysis only and was not to serve as an exercise to compare services also stating that this was a neutral analysis that was based solely on the numbers available to him. And the bottom line sounds pretty great…it really does. How nice would it be to the tax payer to have some relief?

In My Humble Opinion

The business side of me, which is really engrained in me, wants so badly to say that OPP is the right decision. When you look at the bottom line, the numbers back it up. $4.5 million is an unbelievable amount of savings…I can’t possibly overlook that.

BUT, something just still doesn’t feel right about this. And the sales person in me is questioning the legitimacy of the numbers. (Let me be clear, I am in no way questioning the Treasurer’s numbers…I think he did his best analysis based on the data he could find) But let me explain my problem with it. Let’s picture this. I’m a sales person and I sell windows. You come to me and ask me for a quote and share with me the other quote you have already received from another window guy. After hearing you out and taking the measurements, I am 100% confident that I can sell you the exact same windows and install them the exact way as the other guy for 50% less…same windows, same service, half the price. As a sales person, I would lead with “Hey, did you know that I can get you those exact same windows for half the price? Let me show you.” What I wouldn’t do is show you the windows that I have available and make you go try to figure out what my price would be by sending you to check out my website and task you with calling my past clients. That’s just not a very transparent way to do business.

What I am getting at is this – If these numbers are truly what they appear to be, why did our Treasurer ever have to try to find them in the first place? Not only did he have to do an excessive amount of research, but he also had to speak to neighbouring municipalities to try to understand the cost. No disrespect to the OPP, but it all just seems a little odd to me…Would you buy windows from someone who made you figure out the price on your own?

I’d love to hear your humble opinions on this matter…have you sent an email to your Council Members yet so they know how you feel?

  • jwilliams@orangeville.ca
  • wmaycock@orangeville.ca
  • swilson@orangeville.ca
  • sbradley@orangeville.ca
  • gcampbell@orangeville.ca
  • dkidd@orangeville.ca
  • ngaristo@orangeville.ca
  • and please cc the clerk, Susan Greatrix at sgreatrix@orangeville.ca

Please…regardless of which side of this issue you are on, HAVE YOUR SAY!! Do not leave this issue solely to Council. In my opinion, this is perhaps the biggest decision a Council has had to make as long as I can remember….Don’t let your voice be muffled.

Next Council Meeting Date and Public Meeting Date

On Monday, Council voted on a motion to hold the OPS/OPP Public Meeting on Thursday, April 27th at ODSS – The time is TBA once they can coordinate with Rogers Cable as well as ODSS. This meeting will be the opportunity for residents to speak up, share your thoughts, ask your questions. This will NOT run in the same format as a regular Council Meeting. It will be moderated by a neutral moderator and representatives from both OPP and OPS will be available to answer your questions. I will post as soon as the time is announced.

The next regular Council Meeting will be held on Monday, April 24th at 7pm at Town Hall.

 

 

People of Orangeville – Police Chief Wayne Kalinski

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One of the best things about writing this blog is the opportunities that I have been given to meet some of the most wonderful people in our community. I am honoured to be running this feature showcasing some of the ‘People of Orangeville’.

You’ve all seen him around Orangeville, you’ve all probably had the opportunity to meet him, and if not, you’ve definitely read about him online and in the local papers. Today’s feature is dedicated to Orangeville Police Chief Wayne Kalinski.

Chief Kalinski – Photo Credit to Jim Waddington (Orangeville Now – J.A.W Photography for All Occasions)

LEADERSHIP

A truly great leader is hard to come by, and Orangeville is so fortunate to have found one of the best in Police Chief Wayne Kalinski. It’s no secret that as recently as 3 years ago, the Orangeville Police Service had lost the respect and trust of the community. In fact, leading up to the 2014 Municipal Election, the hottest issue was policing. In 2014, then Deputy Chief Kalinski stepped up to the plate an accepted the role of Chief in what was a very struggling organization. As a leader, one of the greatest challenges to accept is the challenge to fix something that is very broken. Chief Kalinski was up for that challenge.

Photo Credit - Jim Waddington

Photo Credit – Jim Waddington

‘Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others’                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ~John Maxwell (Author)

It wasn’t long before you were able to feel the change in the air. Within weeks, morale was up, OPS was more visible in the community and the tension between the community and OPS started to slowly fade. Chief Kalinski showed nothing but respect for his position. He had a vision of greatness and his plan was to accomplish that through transparency, accountability and community involvement.

I run into the Chief everywhere…he is more present in our community than anyone I have ever seen. Whether it’s a fundraiser, an event, the farmer’s market, Council Meetings, or walking a beat, Chief Kalinski is there. And he’s not just there. He is spending every one of those moments embracing the people of the community. Speaking to them about their concerns. Answering their questions. Truly listening and open to try to find resolutions. And it’s not just the Chief – the officers in this community are now more present, more open, more community driven than ever before. A great leader inspires greatness in others, and Chief Kalinski  has definitely led by example.

I recently sat down with the Chief to ask about his accomplishments over the last couple of years and he was so humble in his reply. To Chief Kalinski, these aren’t his accomplishments, they’re a collaboration of the entire team who embraced his vision and knew that Orangeville Police Service had the ability to be the best in the country. I pressed a little harder to really learn about his leadership style – “Respect and Honesty” – and what he meant by that is that every person who is part of Orangeville Police Service knows that the Chief has their best interests in mind – ALWAYS. They are part of his family and are treated with that level of respect.

“I am proud to be the Police Chief for the dedicated staff of the Orangeville Police Service. Our team is focused on providing the best possible service for our citizens.  I am also grateful to have met so many wonderful people in Orangeville who truly care about the community in which we all live and work.  May our collective town spirit continue to be a model of inspiration for all to admire.”

Photo Credit – Jim Waddington

Thank you Chief Kalinski – Thank you for your hard work, dedication and devotion to making Orangeville a better and safer place for us to live and work. Thank you for being a mentor to many and for inspiring change and more community involvement. Keep up the great work and thank you for being one of the great ‘People of Orangeville’.

 

 

 

Town of Orangeville Council Meeting – Monday, March 20th, 2017

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On a Personal Note…

One of my favourite things about attending Council Meetings is being given the opportunity to talk to residents and listen and understand their community concerns. In the last couple of years, I’ve been privy to a lot of issues that residents feel are being overlooked – things that I didn’t realize were issues – and its been such a great learning opportunity for me! If you don’t come to council meetings, I’d still love the chance to hear what’s on your mind…what are your biggest concerns in Orangeville right now? Leave a comment on the blog or send me an email mrsposty@outlook.com – I’m looking to write a post that focuses on some of your key issues in the upcoming month.

Question Period

A handful of residents attend most meetings, and Mr. Alan Toms is one who is regularly in attendance and is often prepared to speak at Question Period when he has concerns. On Monday night, he shared his concerns with the way the OPP costing presentation was handled – clearly our Town is beginning to outgrow our Council Chambers as the majority of residents who attended were moved into the Theatre to watch it from there on the live stream. Mr. Toms hoped that by addressing Council on Monday, it would allow sufficient time and planning for the Town of Orangeville to look at alternate venues for the ‘Public Meeting’ that will be upcoming at the end of April where residents will be given the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns about the policing situation in Orangeville. Council Chambers just will not work – policing in Orangeville has been a hot topic for many years and there will be hundreds of residents in attendance. Thank you Mr. Toms for voicing your concerns at Council – you are bang on correct – perhaps now would be a good time to look at using the Cafeteria at ODSS or somewhere with sufficient space.

Will you attend that meeting?? Would the venue determine whether or not you will be in attendance? I’d love your opinions and suggestions on how it should be handled.

Parking Study Presentation

Have you ever tried to park on Broadway at a “busy” time of day? I have – and it’s not fun! Especially on Saturday mornings during the Farmers Market, dinner time on a Friday night when a show is on at the Opera House, or during any special events….actually pretty much any time of day, I find there are parking challenges.

Well, the consultants have spoken and according to the report, there is sufficient parking in the Downtown….even during special events such as Founders Day. Consultants from Paradigm Transportation Solutions LTD presented their extensive study on Monday night and  the end result of their study was that “the need for an increase in parking supply has not been identified.” Based on their numbers, they identified that even at it’s peak, only around 80% of available parking is being utilized…I was shocked to see those numbers because in my experiences, that just simply hasn’t been the case. (the full study and presentation is available here)

The part of the presentation that I found the most interesting was the results of the community consultations that they shared. They received opinions from around 500 residents and business holders and the theme was quite consistent amongst those asked. When asked what they liked about the current parking, the number one reply was that it is free public parking – that response was the same from the stakeholders. When asked what needed improvement, the response was overwhelming that there was a need for more parking…some residents and stakeholders suggested the need for a parking structure in the Mill St Mall area while others suggested removal of the median to go back to angled parking. The other issue that was brought up was the lack of accessible parking and the abuse of the 2-hour time limit.

I would love to hear your opinions on Downtown Orangeville Parking – do you think there is enough? Do you have suggestions to improve the current state? Does a lack of parking ever deter you from attending an event in the Downtown area?

Next Council Meeting

A reminder that the next Council Meeting will be held on Monday, April 3rd, 2017 – at this meeting, there will be a presentation made by OPS’s Chief Kalinski with other members of OPS scheduled to be in attendance. Hope to see you there!!

Town of Orangeville Council Meeting – Monday, March 6th, 2017

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On Monday night, Jim Hill, a resident of Montgomery Village spoke at Question Period with concerns about tickets that his family is receiving overnight while being parked in the overflow parking in the community. This winter alone, his family has received in the neighbourhood of 30 parking tickets at $25 a piece. Mr. Hill plans to fight each of these tickets. Mr. Hill has lived in the neighbourhood for 20 years and is concerned that the change in the bylaw is going to force him to relocate his family. Members of council said that the bylaw hasn’t changed, rather the bylaw dept has become more diligent with enforcement of the bylaw.

Councillor Wilson proposed an option where perhaps permits could be purchased on a first-come-first-serve basis by residents of the area to allow parking, and this proposal gained no traction.

After a lengthy discussion, Mr. Hill was quite obviously frustrated when Council chose not to pursue any changes to the current bylaw and no resolution was sought.

No Changes to The Way We Vote

On Monday’s agenda, Council was asked to look at various voting options for the 2018 Municipal Election. Options included changing to a ‘Ranked’ system, as well as possibly adding Internet Voting to the mix while continuing with Paper Ballots and Vote Counting Machines.

Trevor Castiglione spoke up at Question Period asking Council to consider adding in the Internet Voting to help combat our low voter-turnout.

Council chose to keep our voting methods the same and opted out of adding Internet Voting to the 2018 election.

In my humble opinion, I would have liked to see Council do some more investigation into the addition of online voting. I can understand why people would not want to cast their vote online, in fact, I don’t think I would ever use online voting personally..however, I would have liked to see some more investigation into this as an option. What do you think? Would you ever cast your ballots online? Would you have liked to see Council change anything about the way our elections are handled?

Council Remuneration Review Committee

This committee is set to review remuneration for the next term of Council and the committee will be formed after a motion to do so was passed.

Mayor Williams recalled that in the previous term of Council, staff were to investigate whether or not the role of Mayor should be a full-time position and noted that no actions had been taken…and this was not including as part of the motion that was passed on Monday.

In my humble opinion, the role of Mayor in The Town of Orangeville should remain part-time…I don’t know that as a Town, we can afford the increase in salary that would come from having a full-time Mayor…what do you think?

Public Meeting for Orangeville Policing Issue is Coming

Councillor Kidd requested that a ‘Special Meeting of Council’ be scheduled through the week of April 24th with the sole agenda item being policing. This would give residents the opportunity to weigh-in on both the OPP costing presentation as well as the upcoming OPS presentation that is scheduled for Monday, April 3rd.

Having it scheduled as a Council Meeting, rather than a Public Meeting will afford the possibility of it being televised on Rogers TV which Councillor Kidd felt was an important factor.

Staff will be looking at dates and coordinating with Rogers TV and will announce the date once it is confirmed.

With this being such a hot topic and HUGE million dollar decision for our Council, will you plan on being in attendance?

Next Council Meeting

The next meeting of Council is scheduled for Monday, March 20th! Hope you see you there!

Have a safe and happy March Break 🙂

 

 

OPP Costing Presentation…and some other drama – Monday, February 13th, 2017

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Quite a few years in the making, but Monday night was finally the night – The OPP Costing was presented to Council. The gallery was packed and the Opera House was opened up for overflow seating with a live feed to the Council Meeting. This meeting did not allow for any public input – further ‘Open House’ sessions will follow in the coming months. The process is far from over and the public is encouraged to send their comments and questions by email to all members of Council. Orangeville has to make their decision by mid-August 2017 and leading up to that date, there will be a further presentation by OPS (as was requested by Council on Monday), OPP will also be back to break down the costing that occurs after the first 3 year contract is completed, and there will be a public Open House where members of the community will be encouraged to voice their opinions and ask any questions.

I will start off with a public thank you to the members of the OPP who conducted the presentation. I found the presentation to be quite thorough (although I do have further questions that I will discuss later in the post) and I found them very professional, knowledgable and very respectful to Chief Kalinski, the PSB and the entire team of OPS. The OPP is a very well-respected force…if they weren’t, they wouldn’t be policing 300+ municipalities in Ontario – I preface with this because there has been a lot of speculation put out through various media sources about the possibility of a decline in service quality with the OPP and in my humble opinion, that is simply an unfair speculation.

The Level of Service

If Orangeville were to accept the OPP Costing, we would become the 4th Zone in Dufferin County. (Zone 1 is Mono, Zone 2 is Murmur/Melancthon and Zone 3 is Amaranth/East Luther/GrandValley/East Garafraxa. These 4 zones would be part of the Dufferin Detachment. Within the detachment, there would be 11 officers on duty at all times…7 of those officers would report to work in Orangeville. There were a number of concerns from members of Council about those 7 officers potentially being “called away” from Orangeville to assist in a neighbouring municipality if the need arose.

Dollars & Cents

The OPP presented a costing of $7.8 Million per year (for the first 3 years) plus a one time start up cost of approx $1 Million. The current OPS Budget for 2017 is $8.2 Million after its revenues of $1.4 Million. So, it looks like about $400,000 in savings per year for the initial 3 year contract.

However, there are other costs to take into consideration which have not yet been answered – I anticipate further information being released at future information sessions.

There are upgrades needed to the current police station in order for it to house the OPP – the costs of those upgrades were not included in this costing – to me, that is a huge variable. Also, the cost of severances based on collective agreements as well as the ‘pension divestment’ could potential be at a HUGE cost. There would definitely be some cost recovery based on the disposal of OPS’s current assets, but again, no precise dollar amount was presented. In my humble opinion, these are factors that need to be locked down before any decisions are made as they all could affect the dollars & cents in a big way.

The other cost question that remains a mystery up to this point is a full understanding of how the costing model works after the first 3 years – The OPP will be back for another session with Council at some point in the coming months to explain the ins and outs of this. So stay tuned for more information.

Public Open House

As I mentioned earlier, this process is far from over. OPS will be presenting to Council at the meeting on Monday, April 3rd. As mentioned above, there will also be another session from OPP in regards to the 2nd phase of the contract (after the first 3+ years) and there will be a public open house. In the meantime, here is my ask. Please don’t let your voice go unheard. This is perhaps the biggest decision this Council will ever have to make and it will affect every taxpayer in Orangeville for years and years to come. Please don’t wait for the Public Open House…send your emails now…send them to every member of Council at the email addresses that I have enclosed:

  • Mayor Williams: jwilliams@orangeville.ca
  • Deputy Mayor Maycock: wmaycock@orangeville.ca
  • Councillor Wilson: swilson@orangeville.ca
  • Councillor Bradley: sbradley@orangeville.ca
  • Councillor Campbell: gcampbell@orangeville.ca
  • Councillor Kidd: dkidd@orangeville.ca
  • Councillor Garisto: ngaristo@orangeville.ca

Other emails to send to are:

  • oppcosting@orangeville.ca
  • CAO Ed Brennan: ebrennan@orangeville.ca
  • Town Clerk Susan Greatrix: sgreatrix@orangeville.ca

Please ensure you include your name and contact information on all correspondence. Send your opinions, questions, and concerns. Make sure your voice is heard before this decision is made.

My Humble Opinions

I have been asked a number of times where I stand..OPP or OPS…and until the presentation on Monday night, I was hesitant to reply simply because I didn’t have all of the information. While I still don’t feel like I have all of the information, at this point in time, I am definitely leaning towards OPS and here is why. When it comes to the money side of things, the cost is comparable. I was expecting a larger savings with OPP and it’s simply not the case. There are too many variables as listed above (severances, pensions, upgrades to the Police Station) that would bring the cost over and above the current OPS budget. As for the level of service, I again believe that this is comparable. Both forces are top-notch and I don’t think there would be any advantages to our service level by going OPP – yes, they do have specialty units and divisions that we could benefit from, but we are already able to leverage those services if they are required. The one advantage to OPP would be for the officers directly – officers for the OPP have more opportunities for advancing their careers if they so choose.

But, until further information is obtained, my vote right now lies with OPS. What are your thoughts? Did your opinion change after the presentation on Monday night? If you were tasked to voting one way or another today, what would your vote be?

….And Then There Was Drama

As you may recall back in November, the Mayor was quoted in the Orangeville Banner stating that “A good Council supports its Mayor. A good CAO supports its Mayor”. Councillor Wilson took offence to the implications of his statement and asked him to apologize. At that time, Mayor Williams informed Councillor Wilson that he was misquoted in the paper and that if Councillor Wilson had an issue with that, he should take it up with the reporter.

Well, Councillor Wilson did. He went and spoke with the reporter who confirmed that the quote was accurate and even provided his hand-written notes of the interview to Councillor Wilson. “I stand by my earlier request that you owe an apology to the staff here, specifically the CAO. I’d like your response to it because I know you have not apologized to Mr. Brennan for your comments in the paper that day.” Mayor Williams replied with “You asked for an apology and I will not be providing one because I’ve done nothing wrong. I’ve said nothing wrong. If you don’t like the way that a particular writer writes an article or if you don’t like a particular newspaper, then either don’t read it or write your own.” and continued to state that he said nothing offensive.

At this point, Councillor Kidd jumped in “With all due respect, would it hurt you to just shake Ed’s hand and say ‘if I said something wrong, I’m sorry.’…” and he went on to say “Be a Man and just step up and shake his hand”. The Mayor asked for a motion to adjourn….no one answered. He then tried to move to bylaws…no one answered. Not one word. In the end, the Mayor never did apologize, but shook his hand, albeit begrudgingly.

There is so much wrong with this entire interaction and the events leading up to it that it’s hard to know where to even begin.  So, I will start here. In reference to the Mayor’s comments in the newspaper…were they inappropriate? Yes they were. The role of a CAO is NOT a political one. So to suggest that a “good CAO” must support its Mayor is wrong. In my humble opinion, a good CAO advises council and the Mayor without political bias. A good CAO is looking out for the best interests of the residents of the community and the best interests of Town staff. Should the Mayor apologize to Mr. Brennan for his comments…yes, he probably should. Thankfully Mr. Brennan is a professional and continues to do a fantastic job for us, the residents, with or without an apology.

Councillor Kidd’s response to the situation was also inappropriate. I respect his intentions…however perhaps some sensitivity training is in order as his comments were incredibly disrespectful. This ‘Code of Conduct’ that was enacted last year clearly has no merit.

A good leader will accept feedback and use it to grow – and all of the elected ‘leaders’ of our Town need to be reminded of that. If the Mayor honestly didn’t believe that he had said something inappropriate, a better response would have been ‘Thank you for the feedback, I will take your comments into advisement’ and move on. Instead, the deflection, denial and defensiveness was successful in creating yet another hostile environment.

There have been many embarrassing moments over the last 2+ years of this term of Council and this was perhaps one of the most embarrassing because in attendance were half a dozen or more members of the OPP looking to do business with our Town – if I were them, I don’t know what I’d be thinking…but I likely would have gone back to the higher ups of the organization and questioned whether this was a Council we want to be associated with.

Well Wishes for Councillor Garisto

On Monday, Council passed a motion approving an extended medical leave for Councillor Garisto until the end of April. At this time, I’d like to wish Councillor Garisto all the best and send hopes of good health and a speedy recovery.

Next Council Meeting

The next Council Meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 6th, 2017.

 

Town of Orangeville Council Meeting – Monday, January 30th, 2017

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I have been to a lot of weird Council Meetings in the last 2 years…this was perhaps one of the strangest ones yet. And it wasn’t strange because of the content, or the discussion…it was weird because it lasted a whopping 22 minutes {Not an exaggeration} From the singing of Oh Canada until the motion to move into closed session was 22 minutes.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Mayor Maycock – Mayor Williams was absent as were Councillors Garisto and Wilson. The agenda was relatively small – honestly, there was nothing news-worthy…just the receiving of some reports.

Police Services Board Meeting – Wednesday, February 1st, 2017

Congratulations to Ken Krakar – he has been elected to remain as the Chair of the Police Services Board. Ken has been a member of the PSB since 2014 and took the role of ‘acting’ chair back in May 2016 when the Mayor was removed from the position of chair during the police investigation into his credit card spending.

Ken was nominated at the meeting on Wednesday and the vote was taken. All of the members of the PSB voted in favour of this with the exception of Mayor Williams.

Next Council Meeting

A reminder to all Orangeville residents…the next Council Meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 13th and will be a hot one. The OPP Costing is being presented at the meeting.

I anticipate a full house at the meeting, so you may want to get there a bit early to secure a seat. At this point, I am not aware of there will be time set aside for public input, but if you do have questions or comments about this hot topic, you can always speak during the ‘Question Period’ portion of the meeting, or be proactive and send some feedback to the members of Council by email before the meeting.

Hoping to see you all at the next meeting!

 

Town of Orangeville Council Meeting – Monday, January 16th, 2017

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I need to start this post with an apology for it taking so long for me to post – I ran into some technical difficulties…mainly not having a working “enter” key on my laptop and I was struggling with formatting on my tablet! So, for those of you who have been waiting, I’m sorry – and I thank you for your patience!!!!

911 Update

As you may recall, over the summer our 911 service was outsourced to a company in Sudbury called Northern 911. This decision was brought on when Dufferin County Council requested an RFP to see if there was financial savings to be had if the dispatch was moved from OPS to another provider. During the RFP process, Northern 911 was the successful bidder and brought a significant savings to the County.

However, this change has come with challenges. At the Orangeville Council Meeting on January 16th, Orangeville’s Police Chief, Wayne Kalinski and Sergeant Dave McLagan gave a presentation to Council explaining the issues that have been occurring since Northern 911 has taken over dispatching. At the top of the list are the 150 calls in the 4 month span from June 28th to Oct 31st that had issues requiring OPS to correct. Council was told that one of the primary reasons for these mistakes were calls made from cell phones by people on or near a border such as Mono where Caledon Emergency Services were dispatched rather than Orangeville. These incidents can cause extreme delays in the response time and are potentially life-threatening minutes.

Sergeant McLagan spent some time speaking to the ‘Blended’ Model that Orangeville uses and its advantages…the primary benefit being that all of the County’s emergency services would be dispatched from one place – rather than the current system where Police and Fire are separate from Ambulance. Currently about 4% of all 911 calls that come in are experiencing issues. That may not seem like a huge number…in fact 96% are right…But 4% is a HUGE margin of error in my humble opinion, especially when we are talking something as crucial as 911.

Retired Fire Chief, Andy Macintosh also addressed Council with the same concerns “It seems to be about money, not safety” and he asked Council to considering separating themselves from the County and bringing OPS dispatch back to Orangeville.

So, after all talks were done, Councillor Campbell made a motion requesting that County Council investigate the 911 situation and that they send a report back to Orangeville Council so that Orangeville can make a recommendation on how to proceed. County Council had received the same presentation a few days prior and had requested a report be brought back with their findings. Councillor Campbell’s motion passed unanimously. So further discussion will come once the report is received.

What do you think about the current 911 situation?

The Flag Will Fly Again

In keeping with Flag Day, the Canadian Flag will be raised in Dragonfly Park on February 15th, 2017. I’m excited to see our flag back up and once again, I want to give a shout-out to our community for chipping in with donations and making this happen!! Paul Korsten and Councillor Garisto really led the initiative and got HUGE community support! Will you be attending the raising of the flag?

OPP Costing is *FINALLY* Coming

It has been announced that the OPP Costing will be presented at the Council Meeting that is being held on Monday, February 13th, 2017. This costing has been a contentious topic since well before the last election. In the past, the OPS had a poor reputation in Orangeville due to a number of factors starting with being one of the highest paid police departments in Ontario followed with some lawsuits and other poor decisions.

This was one of the hottest topics during the last election and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone currently sitting in Council Chambers who didn’t run on a platform that included investigating the possibility of OPP. However, since just prior to the election, OPS has made HUGE strides in their budget as well as their community involvement and as a result, the level of service and their overall reputation within Orangeville has come leaps and bounds. I need to take this moment to give a huge shout-out to Chief Kalinski…because a lot of the great changes that have been made have been a direct result of his leadership, his professionalism and his passion for Orangeville. He has built a great culture within the Police Department and his passion for Orangeville is contagious – you can see it in the hearts of all of his officers. Thank you Chief 🙂

I am eagerly awaiting the OPP costing presentation – I am eager to hear what they have to offer and how the costs break down. If you follow social media at all, I’m sure you have heard some of the fear mongering about OPP – and I do believe that’s what some of it is. Will the sky fall if OPP takes over our policing? I absolutely don’t believe that it will. And I think its unfair to make those assumptions before hearing their presentation. Don’t get me wrong – I am a huge advocate of OPS and Chief Kalinski and I feel that OPS is a huge asset to Orangeville. But, to be fair, I don’t have all of the facts yet….no one does.

Interestingly, The City of Brockville (population of approx 25,000) received their OPP costing this week and after all questions were answered, a notice of motion was brought forward to reject the costing and keep their policing local.

I’d love to know what all of you think? Do you have a preference? Or are you waiting for more information? Will you come out to the Council Meeting on February 13th? Do you think the community should have input before a decision is made? I hope to see you all at this important meeting!

Next Council Meeting

The next scheduled Council Meeting is Monday, January 30th, 2017. See ya there!!

 

Sean Coulter – People of Orangeville

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  • So about a month ago, I announced that I was going to start a weekly feature for 2017 entitled ‘People of Orangeville’ to highlight some of the amazing humans that exist in our community. I had started a list of people that I wanted to approach and with the holiday craziness, I hadn’t had the chance to speak to any of the people on my list.

Shortly after opening The Edge Wine Bar and Grille

 

Sean Coulter, owner of The Edge Wine Bar and Grille was on my list. Not just because he is a local business owner and close family friend, but because he is an awesome human with an inspirational story. Sadly, I didn’t get the opportunity to talk to Sean about being one of my “feature people” before he was taken from us, far too early. Sean lost a courageous battle with cancer on Thursday, January 5th and his family, friends and the community are overwhelmed with the feeling of loss. Kaylene, Gary, Angie, Amber, Candace and the rest of Sean’s family, I have no words that will ease your pain…

Community Love

Let’s start this with a bit about Sean’s contributions to Orangeville. There were so many, but I will touch on a few. Sean was passionate about giving back to the community. Whether it was the Orangeville SPCA, CHOICES Youth Shelter, The Food Bank, Princess Margaret Hospital or OneSight, just to name a few, he was the first one to find a way to raise some money and have some fun doing it!

Golf Tournament for the Orangeville SPCA

Martini’s for a Cure benefiting The Ride to Conquer Cancer for Princess Margaret Hospital

 

But Sean’s passion really kicked in to high gear when he launched ‘Taking The Edge Off Cancer’ in support of Headwaters Healthcare Foundation’s Oncology Department Expansion. A number of fundraisers have been held over the past couple of years with all proceeds going to support bringing cancer care closer to home.

‘Taking The Edge Off Cancer’ Gala (Photo Credit to Tammy Schneider of SNAP Dufferin)

Donations to Headwaters’ Oncology Expansion from the Gala and BurgerFest (Photo Credit to Tammy Schneider of SNAP Dufferin)

Life is too Short – Live it to the fullest

One of the coolest things about Sean, and there were many, was that if he didn’t tell you that he had cancer, you’d never know. He didn’t let the cancer become his only story. He lived life to the fullest and with no regrets. I like to think that he left this world knowing that he lived a very full, although short, life. My husband and I recently went to visit Sean in the hospital where he had a bit of an extended stay. We walked into the hospital room expecting a quiet, short visit. Well we should have known better. Take away the hospital bed, the machines and the ever-so-flattering hospital gown, and you’d think we’d just walked into a party! There was loud laughter echoing throughout the room and ever a few beer being cracked open. I had to laugh, because only Sean could turn a hospital stay into a party where everyone was welcome 🙂 And even though he was quite obviously unwell, his smile never faded, his laughter never quieted and he never for one moment stopped planning his next move. He talked about needing to get back to work “cause it’s Christmas-Party-Time, ya know” and was planning a trip to the Florida Keys with his lovely girlfriend, Candace so she could get a well-deserved break and get her feet in the sand.

Sean lived by the motto “It is what it is” and chose to keep living, to keep loving and to enjoy every moment. It was one of the many things that I loved about Sean and one of the best lessons he could have ever taught me. I take that part of Sean with me and you should too…sometimes life throws you a curveball….or ten…but it is what it is…accept it and keep on keepin’ on. Don’t stop laughing. Don’t stop loving. And most importantly, make the most out of every moment. Life is too short.

I wish I could be a fly on the walls of heaven – because I am sure that there are a lot of great people up there enjoying the BEST party they’ve ever seen now that Sean has joined them! I don’t know if there are bars in heaven, but if there are, I’m fairly confident that one of them is lined with shots and is likely on fire.

 

(special thanks to Aristea Doukas for posting this video from New Year’s Eve)

 

A celebration of Sean’s life is being held at the Edge Wine Bar and Grille on Sunday, January 8th from 2-6pm. Donations to ‘Taking the Edge Off Cancer’ would be appreciated! Let’s keep Sean’s memory and mission alive.

Rest in Peace Sean. Orangeville was made a better place with you in it. We will miss you.

Town of Orangeville Council Meeting – December 12th, 2016

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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!!