Friday, July 30, 2010

COUNCIL MEETING IN ATWOOD

Well they wouldn't have one here last year but the people of Atwood will now have the privilege of having our Municipal council meetings for Monday August 9 and 23, 2010 at the Elma Community Center in Atwood. All should attend to show our support for the people who show no support for the people of Atwood. Coincidence that the are holding the INDIVIDUAL CONSULTATION SESSION for the Atwood Sewer Project the week before. Could they be hoping that the irrate citizens will not bring some uncomfortable issues to the council meeting ?????? Hmmmmmm. I will be there...............

SEWER PROJECT MEETING

Residents of Atwood have now recieved or will be receiving their final price for sewers and it is sticker shock. The Municipality has also decided to hold an INDIVIDUAL CONSULTATION SESSION on August 4,2010. No appointment necessary. Here are the highlights

Municiapal staff will be there ready to :

Answer questions about your final capital invoice
Discuss your financing options and accept your Payment Election Form
Accept and record your cheque and/or post-dated payments
Discuss road issues
Answer questions about your sewer connection

You can also
Apply for a Building Permit for your sewer connection
Pick up a backflow prevention valve

And here is the good one

Verify that you have completed all of the required inspections for your sewer connection

I think that maybe the Building Inspectors should be doing this job not me. I am already paying enough for getting nothing. Or how about the engineer, or as in other communities who pay much less than us......do the whole job if you want to get paid
JUST MY OPINION

TO THE ATWOOD SEWER PROJECT COMMITTEE AND THE MUNICIPALITY OF NORTH PERTH

Please be advised that the recent sewer project that was forced on the residents of Atwood has been finished or at least most of it has been finished, not my property and the people of Atwood have still not received the final cost per household. As residents of Atwood we have faced the added unnnecessary cost of also bringing the sewer line into our buildings and as the cost continues to mount I think it would only be fair to let the residents know the final cost on your side and whether the Municipality plans on offering some more funding to help cover the cost of your Municipal asset. The recent reconstruction of water and sewer lines in Listowel where people received all the new infrastructure and curbs and new sidewalks and new sod was not a $20,000.00 burden to anyone who received the new municipal services. In Atwood we did not receive any of this and are expected to pay.
I hereby request the Municipality find more money from it's tax base from the whole municipality to help pay for the sewer project that was mandated by the Provincial Government, to help with the poor water quality issues in Atwood, to ease the burden on the already overtaxed Atwood residents.

Side line
Why should a 77 year old woman who has paid tax all her life to this community have to take out a loan to pay for a municipal assesr
Why should a 93 year old woman have to take out a loan to pay for a municipal asset

NO ONE IN LISTOWEL HAS BEEN ASKED TO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NEW POSTS TO COME SOON

Sorry for not posting lately. Since I contracted a bacterial infection from contaminated water I have had a hard time getting my health back. I continue to try and get healthy and have accepted the fact that I will never be as healthy as before and try everyday to get my life back. Best advice I was ever given "always watch your health and put it first" New posts will be coming soon.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

BY Pastor Martin Niemoller
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communists.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me"

STICKER SHOCK HITTING THE RESIDENTS OF ATWOOD

I have started receiving calls from some of the residents of Atwood who are now getting angry at the cost of hooking into the new municipal sewers. The Atwood Sewer Servicing Committee at one point was telling the residents that they would try and get the companies doing the installations to give us a fair price. Some of the trades are giving fair pricing but some are gouging the people with very high costs. The shock of just putting the sewer line into the homes and redoing plumbing is an added cost over and above the inital cost that people are facing. I know of 2 women, one 77 and one 93 who have had to take out loans to pay for the sewer project and also have had to pay to put the sewer into their homes. How is this fair to the elderly residents who have been paying taxes in this community for years. Others will be putting the intial cost on their taxes and amortized over 30 years which doubles the cost due to the high interest rate offered. This also puts up the taxes on the property. Although the project has been finished for months the residents of Atwood have still not been told what their final cost will be. Initial cost for me is anywhere from$11,000.00 to $14,000.00 plus installation into the building. All attempts to try and get the municipality to put more money into the project have been turned down. The municipality put 1 million dollars into the project and left the 342 homes in Atwood to pay almost 4 million plus the cost into the buildings. This project was mandated by the government due to the poor water quality it Atwood. Can you say E coli.
Now the residents are getting angry, now that the costs are adding up. And they should ,this is unfair of the municipality who is the owner of this municipal asset not to help the residents of Atwood with more of the costs
The final cost should be out shortly and the residents of Atwood should voice their opinions and loudly voice it come the election this fall. Vote out the ones who showed they did not care about Atwood

Saturday, July 10, 2010

WHAT'S A CONFLICT

EDITORIAL IN TORONTO STAR SATURDAY JULY 10, 2010

Mississauga residents and, indeed, people across the province have been well served by a judge's decision this week to take a broad view of alleged conflict of interest in Mayor Hazel McCallion's city hall.
McCallion's lawyers had attempted to narrow the scope of the inquiry by defining "conflict of interest" in strict legal terms as applying only to votes at meetings of council or one of its committees. In other words the only test for McCallion would be whether she declared a financial interest in a matter at a public meeting and refrained from voting. What she said or did in private meetings would be off limits.
Justice Douglas Cunningham who is heading up the inquiry, found that definition to limited. "Members of city council are entrusted by those that elect them to act in the public interest," Cunningham said in a strongly worded ruling this week. "Optics are important. In other words, members of a municipal council must conduct themselves in such a way as to avoid any reasonable apprehension that their interest could in any way influence their elected responsiblity. Suffice it to say that members of council (and staff) are not to use their office to promote private interests, whether their own or those of relatives or friends. They must be unbiased in the exercise of their duties. That is not only the common law, but the common-sense standard by which the conduct of municipal representatives ought to be judged."
The inquiry has only just begun examining the mayor's role in a failed land deal involving he son, Peter McCallion. (Its initial hearings probed the signing of a controversial utility deal.) In fairness to both the McCallions, the public should avoid leaping to conclusions before the inquiry has heard from everyone and reported.
Whatever his findings, however, Cunningham's decision to take an unihibited look at conflict of interest is a welcome indication that his report will be comprehensive in nature.

Friday, July 9, 2010

IT JUST IS NOT RIGHT

There is a man and family in Cambridge who is going through a situation that is similar to mine and many others in North Perth and many other municpalities across Ontario. A Mayor and a municipality that has gone to far. His name is John Newton, a senior who wants to live in the same house as his children. His batttle with his municpality seems to be an ongoing vendetta by his mayor who seems to want to make his life hell , similar to what North Perth can do. Please check out thecambridgeadvocate.com for a full explanation of his situation which is just how a municipality can go wrong. There is the high road and then there is the intimidation road and the municiaplity in all it's wisdom has taken the intimidation road. If I was better at this computer thing I would include it all here and as soon as learn how I will. It is just not right how some in power can abuse it to there benefit and use it to make someones life unbearable. Mr Newton my support is with you on this issue and for anyone else who goes through this. To stand up for what is right is a hard thing to do but it is the right thing. Sometimes mayors need to be reminded............. what the right thing is to do ???????????????????t

Saturday, July 3, 2010

LISTOWEL LCBO OPENING SUNDAYS

It appears that the new manager at the LCBO is bringing Listowel into the present day. The LCBO will now be open on sundays from 12 to 4. In the past the Municipality did not want the store open on sundays because of the 17 churches in town. And out of courtesy the LCBO complied. So all the people in the area had to drive to neighbouring towns on sunday to restock. It is a bold and wonderful move and will get many of the tourists who drive through town on sunday to stop. Long overdue but finally a step in the right direction.

DOES COUNCILOR HORN HAVE TO GO BY THE RULES????????

In Monday nights agenda package was a letter from Councilor Horn requesting that council allow him to fast track opening his new car dealership without having to go through the normal process for a zoning by law amendment. He states in his letter that this has been done before in the past to help new businesses open faster. I do not know if it was approved but am pretty sure it would have been. And again the municipality shows it's corruption and that there are rules for some and different rules for others. Bring on the election!!!!!!!!!

Friday, July 2, 2010

FRIDAY IN ATWOOD

HELLO NORTH PERTH. AS I FINISHED MY SUPPER TONIGHT AND WENT TO THE BACK YARD FOR A QUIET EVENING, FIREWORKS , SOME SPARKLERS, I NOTICED THE MASS COLLECTION OF STRANGE PEOPLE ON THE CORNER OF MY INTERSECTION WHERE MY STORE IS LOCATED.

When I started to walk towards the group the discussion of drug deals became quite loud and clear. After several minutes of voicing my opinion ( cleaned up for the blog unfortunately) about how they could get there drug deals out of my town and wondering if the police would even show up even if I made a call because normally they do not , I continued to tell them to get out of my town that what they were doing was not acceptable. Get your drug deals out of my town , and take it to where you live. How many people care enough about a community to do that and would take the chance? It really changed the way I had planned on spending my night . But at least I managed to diffuse something that could have beeen alot worse and something most people would not to do...... it takes but one voice ......... to make a difference.

And i do every day........and sleep well at night

Thursday, July 1, 2010

HAPPY CANADA DAY ATWOOD

TODAY'S ATWOOD PARADE AND CELEBRATIONS WERE THE BEST THEY HAVE BEEN IN MANY YEARS. THE NEWLY BUILT PAVILION IN ATWOOD IS A WONDERFUL PLACE TO HOLD THESE EVENTS. IT WAS MONEY WELL SPENT. THEY HAD MANY GAMES FOR THE KIDS, MANY CAKES TO WIN AND ALOT OF GOLDFISH WHO FOUND NEW HOMES. THOSE DIGNITARIES IN ATTENDANCE WERE MAYOR ED HOLLINGER , DEPUTY MAYOR JULIE BEHRNS, COUNCILORS RANDY PETTAPIECE, ROBERT MARTIN, JEFF BANNERMAN . WE WERE SURPRISED NOT TO SEE JOHN WILKINSON OUR MPP AND THE HATED HST GUY AND MR SCHELLENBERGER MP. THE PARADE WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAN LAST YEAR AND LASTED FOR ALMOST AN HOUR . SQUIRT GUNS WERE USED BY MANY. HEHEHEHEH HAPPY CANADA DAY MAYOR HOLLINGER.