Saturday, December 31, 2011

LOOKING BACK AT 2011 by SHANNON BURROWS - Listowel Banner

Looking back at 2011
December 28, 2011

For a small municipality, North Perth saw its share of news over this last year.From the tragic passing of two local volunteer firefighters, to encouraging word of new businesses and developments coming to the area, from the feel-good and human interest photo spreads of local events, to the controversial topic of the day concerning wind energy, The Listowel Banner has brought it all to you.In this edition of The Banner, readers will find part one of our annual year in review — the stories, good and bad — that made local headlines in 2011.To coincide with this annual reflection, we’ve compiled a list of the Top Ten Most Memorable North Perth Quotes.
10. "We come here for many reasons, whether we are here to cheer on survivors as they walk the victory lap, or to remember loves ones we have lost."Kathleen Mack, 2011 Relay for Life chairperson.
9. "As Christians first and farmers second, we believe we should do something to share our abundance with those who are hungry."Farmer John Tollenaar on the local Harvest for Hunger initiative and record-breaking attempt.
8. "I wanted to return the respect and pride in Canadian troops that disappeared in the 1960s and ‘70s, after the Vietnam War. My goal was to take the mural across Canada."Artist Dave Sopha on the Portraits of Honour.
7. "That’s the first time in Silver Stick history two teams from the same centre have won the same year, that’s phenomenal."-Minto Atom Rep head coach Dale Litt on his club and the Minto Midget Reps both winning regional Silver Sticks in late 2011.
6. "I could see the red bolt so I knew. I had seen the flash of red in the window; it was very strange. I knew we were hit with lightning, but still I was thinking, ‘was that lightning?’"Listowel resident Tracey Robson, after her home was struck by lightning in September.
5. "Not wearing seat belts is the biggest killer for teens (in Perth County). Not cancer, not your heart, not West Nile."RN Jim LeSouder at the Listowel District Secondary School IMPACT assembly.
4. "I see no signs of any desire to reduce the deficit, like it was supposed to be happening . . . we’re certainly not reducing the deficit, we’re adding to it."Elma ward councillor Ken Buchanan, reflecting on his first year on council.
3. "How about that?"Perth-Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece, on winning the local riding in October’s provincial election.
2. "It was absolutely amazing. What a great testament to these two men. This is a great community and we pull together in good times and in bad. We celebrated and we grieved together. We’re a family and that’s what gets us through."Tami Chauvin, president of the Listowel Kinette Club, on the community’s tribute to fallen firefighters Kenneth Rea and Ray Walter.
And the Most Memorable North Perth Quote of 2011:1. "God bless you, Kenny and Raymond, you’re our heroes."North Perth Fire Chief Ed Smith, speaking at the funeral of Rea and Walter.- S.B.

Monday, December 26, 2011

THINGS TO THANK GOD FOR IN EVERY SEASON

A heart full of joy
the gift of faith
blessings to share
friends and family to love
the miracle of Jesus
Gods amazing grace

Saturday, December 24, 2011

A HINT FOR NEXT CHRISTAMS - BY A .A .MILNE

Obviously there should be a standard value for a certain type of Christmas present. One may give what one will to ones family or particular friends, that is all right. But in a house -party there is a pleasant interchange of parcels, of which the string and brown paper and the kindly thought are the really important ingredients, and the gift inside is nothing more than an excuse for those things. It is embarrassing for you if Jones has apoligized for his brown paper with a hundred cigars and you have only excused yourself with twenty- five cigarettes; perhaps still more embarrassing if it is you who have lost so heavily on the exchange .
And now I am reminded of the friend of mine, Willliam by name, who arrived at a large country house for Christmas without any present in his bag. He had expected to neither nor receive anything but to his horror he discovered on the 24th that everybody was preparing a present for him, and that it was taken for granted that he would require a little privacy and brown paper on Christmas Eve for the purpose of addressing his own offerings to others. He had wild thoughts of telegraphing to London for something to be sent down, and spoke to other members of the house-party in order to disover what sort of present would be suitable.
"What are you giving our host?" he asked one of them.
"Mary and I are giving him a book."
William then approached the youngest son of the house, and discovered that he and his next brother Dick were sharing in this, that, and the other . When he heard this, William retired to his room and thought profoundly.
He was first down to breakfast on Christmas morning. All the places at the table were pilled high with presents. He looked at John's place. The top parcel said "To John and Mary from Charles." William took out his fountain pen and added a couple of words to the inscription. It then read " To John and Mary from Charles and William," and in William's opinion looked just as effective as before. He moved on to the next place. "To Angela from Father," said the top parcel. And "William" wrote William. At his hostess' place he hesitated for a moment. The first present there was for "Darling Mother, from her loving children." It did not seem that an and "Williams" was quite suitable. But his hostess was not to deprived of William's kindly thought, twenty seconds later the handkerchiefs " from John and Mary and William" expressed all the nice things he was feeling for her. He passed on the next place............
It is of course impossible to thank every donour of a joint gift; one simply thanks the first person' whose eyes one happens to catch. Sometimes Williams eye was caught, sometimes not. But he was spared all embarrassment; and I can recommend his solution of the problem with perfect confidence to those who may be in a similar predicament next Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE AND HAVE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR

Thursday, December 15, 2011

WHY IS MUNICIPALITY OF NORTH PERTH STAFF EXEMPT FROM BUILDING PERMIT

Why is Municipality of North Perth Staff Exempt from Building permits

Just when we thought it could not get any worse in our community, it does! Our municipal Clerk has now been discovered renovating a home without a building permit. It has been more than one person who has noticed that there is no building permit prominently posted in the front window of the house or anywhere could be seen on the property.

I personally confirmed on December 12th and 13th with the municipal Building Inspector that indeed there was no building permit issued. He said that it is up to the person to make application and that he was not going to investigate the issue. This begs the question, why are there laws for the residents, who have in the past faced hefty fines and not for the municipal staff?

But wait, it gets worse! The municipal clerk’s husband somehow (and without advertising the position in accordance with our HR Bylaw) was hired as the “janitor” for the municipality. And now the municipality gives him untendered building and renovation contracts for a business he runs “on the side”. Is any of this sounding a little like conflict of interest or grossly unfair to the other small businesses in our community? Well, if you said YES, you are right.

When I attempted to obtain a copy of the invoice for Mr. Berfelz’s contract services company in the renovation of our local library, I was again, outright refused access to this information. This invoice and alleged “quote” was discussed in open council . Despite the provisions of the Municipal Act in particular Section 253 and our own Accountability and Transparency Bylaw (as required by Section 270 of the Municipal Act) public information regarding cosy employment/business relationships is denied.

More recently, the municipality changed auditors. It was stated in the council meeting that the Management Letter was scathing and that the auditors were not interested in providing their services any longer. This should raise some eyebrows in the same manner as it has with councillor Ludington who persistently challenges our Treasurer regarding increased water and sewer rates for Elma. This is despite our Treasurer telling the public only 18 months previously in a mandatory public meeting that the utility rates will NOT increase. The staff of the Municipality of North Perth believe they have an endless source of income, YOU and ME! They also believe that we will not question their conduct, manner of doing business and rampant property tax increases.

All of this should draw the concerns of the ratepayers of North Perth as indicated in my previous letter to the editor. Not only does staff conceal information that is owed to the public and councillors, but some have been running the operations and using municipal funds for their own personal gain. I maybe wrong in some assumptions, but I thought this type of government behaviour is alleged to be occurring in “third world countries” not Canada or more specifically North Perth. Although, I must say in today’s Globe and Mail the headline is “Former French president Jacques Chirac found guilty of corruption”. Let’s face it, none of us are deeply surprised at the French court conviction, but possibly surprised that a court with all of the politics involved would finally go that far for convict their former Prime Minister (and what about former Canadian Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney). We know it can happen anywhere and any time and that is the biggest part of the reason we are in worst economic turmoil in modern history. I, amongst others keep seeing disturbing behaviour within our own local government and for the sake of good governance we keep asking questions of our municipal representatives and our staff. Unfortunately, my questions fall on deaf ears. That is why I am circulating a petition for an in-depth audit of our municipality under Section 9 of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs Act.

RON SCOTT

Friday, December 9, 2011

A CONCERNED CITIIZEN

December 5, 2011

Municipality of North Perth
330 Wallace Ave. N.,
Listowel, ON †††N4W 1L3

Attention: Mrs. Mayor & Council

Dear Mrs. Mayor & Council:
Re: Perth Meadows

This letter is to formally identify my concern, protest and pending action to stop the further investment in the Perth Meadows Development.

It is clear by Section 106 that North Perth invested in a commercial enterprise in 2008 in the amount of $2.5M in order that the development could be started. This in terms of the Municipal Act is referred to as “bonusing”. The restriction of bonusing in the Municipal Act was to stop municipality’s from supporting businesses with tax dollars.

The fundamental reason for this legislation was to avoid a precedence whereby any business could come forward to any municipality in Ontario for preferential financial treatment (loans, grants and tax reductions) that would be ultimately supported by local, Provincial or Federal funds. This sets an unfair advantage for some businesses and exposes local governments to immense risk.

What is deeply concerning is that the recent resolution to invest another $5.5M is an ongoing breach of Section 106 of the Municipal Act and has pushed the debt of the municipality to unprecedented levels that will fall on the shoulders of the tax payers. It is apparent that this development is not financially viable as a standalone enterprise however, the Council of North Perth is now exposing the municipal corporation not only to a total debt of $8.0M for a condominium development but the operational costs that has caused this business to effectively fail.
What is also of concern are the conflicts of interest of the council members who are part of the board of directors of this corporation and their voting on this matter. I am as are others deeply concerned for the cost of the continuing failure of this business to be now supported by the taxpayers of North Perth. Not only are we making our taxpayers vulnerable to the debt and potential loss of investment, but we are exposing our finances to the unsustainable costs of the enterprise that will no doubt add to the municipality’s deficit.
In a recent discussion with MMAH representative Pearl McDougall the quotation in the Listowel Banner was out of context, in particular since the municipality is not buying property but instead investing in a private commercial enterprise (a condominium development).
With the deepest concern for the financial viability of our municipality, I hereby put the council of North Perth on notice that I will be challenging this recent investment and breach of the Municipal Act in order that our community is saved from financial ruin

Ron Scott

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

LETTER FROM CONCERNED PERSON OF NORTH PERTH

Municipal Staff Refuses to Show Invoices to Council or the Public

I have on several occasions requested to see the financial information of the Municipality of North Perth only to be refused by the Municipal Staff. The most recent attempt was met with the following email response on November 17, 2011 from our Treasurer;

The Municipality does not circulate invoices to Council or public review.

This outright refusal should raise the deepest concern to the citizens of this community as it relates to our right to access to our financial information and our ratepayers as “watch dogs” for the possibility of fraud or misappropriation. As a matter of interest you can get a copy of the Prime Minister of Canada’s (Honourable Steven Harper) expense report and receipts at no cost (online access), but you cannot get copy of invoices and expenses related to our on local government. If something seems terribly wrong with this picture, you are absolutely right.

We already know that staff are using the municipal credit cards for personal purchases despite the fact the bylaws do not permit staff to have corporate credit cards. The citizens and council should be deeply concerned as in recent years we have heard through the media about employees and executives of other corporations that have bilked their respective companies of millions if not billions of dollars. In my opinion is the root of our current economic climate, lack of accountability and transparency.

There should be no reason why any member of the public should not be able to look at invoices (at no cost) to see if indeed they are real and from real companies. Instead we have an administration whose mantra is concealment at any cost even to the people who they report to, the councillors. I like others voted for councillors who were going to invoke change, instead we have more of the same as before and staff keep getting away with interest free loans, and are allowed to make PERSONAL purchases using the credit card sponsored and guaranteed by us the ratepayers.

I for one believe the conduct of municipal staff is reprehensible and a travesty related to its municipal credit card fiasco and establishing costly barriers charging it’s citizens ($5.00 per request) to see the invoices that are incurred in the operation of this municipality.

What do you have to hide municipal staff and more importantly, when is this council going to “grow a set” and stand up for it’s citizens rights to the financial information of which we paid hefty taxes to operate this corporation.

Monday, December 5, 2011

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

LETTER TO THE EDITOR


RE: SMALLEST ISSUES CAN BE CHALLENGE FOR MUNICIPALITIES
by John Kastner
Stratford Beacon Herald
Saturday, December 3,2001


I read with interest your point of view on the continuing issues with the Municipality of North Perth and Perth County. Not only was there an unfortunate change in Provincial leadership with former municipal council member Randy Pettapiece getting voted in but also the majority of municipal council was voted out and a new council was voted in. People were looking for major change.Whether they got that change is still debatable. The Municipality of North Perth has had many issues that still need to be fixed, one of which is being business friendly, hence the loss of 650 jobs when the Campbell Soup Plant closed down due to municipal politics. As a previous business owner from North Perth who had road block after road block placed in front of her to stop my business from continuing , I am personally aware of the major issues and I think that North Perth is finally trying to allow businesses that are unique and will benefit the Municipality to open and they are taking a stand against Perth County trying to decide what they, as a Municipality, would like for their community. And about time, but too late for me. Julie Behrns the Mayor of North Perth and previous Warden of Perth County will have her hands full dealing with this issue and all the issues left by the previous council and needs to take leadership to make North Perth a better place to live for all and to allow business to open with out all the road blocks that are now in place that make it impossible for business to succeed in North Perth. Perth County is an unneccesary road block and only leads to the Ontario Municipal Board and a lot of money spent to allow you to legally do what you want with your own property.
The insurance business that wants to open is on a one block street that is one block away from a municipal parking lot and library and a factory, across the street from a law office, a few houses away from a resturant in a house and just houses away from what previously was a B&B. The person wants to run her business from her home and do it legally....What is wrong with that? Provincial Polcy Statement or a flawed Master Growth Plan that shows that North Perth has an over abundance of commercial, residential and industrial land or using these two documents in real life situations. Sometimes common sense should be used, if it was not dead, to make decisions. Where is the line drawn for the commercial district in North Perth, half way across the road, 3/4 across the road, at the sidewalk, it all just seems like a waste of time and money to argue this small point and it should be an easy decision, unless of course you involve government bureacracy, the stumbling block for any business. And if a Municipality or County can not make such a simple decision about a home based business why would we allow them to make such a major, possibly health related issue with regards to wind farms. Common sense is dead, but maybe it is time to bring it back.
JUST MY OPINION

Saturday, December 3, 2011

WE SHOULD BE EMBARASSED

this ran on IFpress.com………… comments invited below

By Christina Blizzard, QMI Agency

The Red Cross moves in to help a beleaguered community where children are
living in squalor in tents, sheds and a trailer.
Where can this be? Haiti? Some Third World country in Africa? Not at all.
Welcome to Attawapiskat–an aboriginal community on James Bay, here on your doorstep. Welcome to Shameful, Ontario.
Shameful, because while children are peeing in buckets, while raw sewage is being dumped in ditches, two levels of government are bickering over who should deal with it.
Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence is frustrated. She declared a state of emergency in the community a month ago–and nothing happened. “It’s a crisis we’re facing in our community and it’s time for the government to accept and understand what’s going on and deal with it because no one is stepping in right now,” Spence told reporters.
The community needs new housing, but the feds haven’t given enough money to build it.
Ironically, the great hope for the community was the nearby De Beers diamond mine.
About 100 members of the reserve work there, but they can’t build homes because the Indian Act prevents them from getting mortgages, says Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson.
The community’s school was pulled down several years ago because it was contaminated with gasoline from a dump. So 400 children go to school in portables on a massive brownfield site. They start to drop out in Grade 4.
According Bisson, five families live in tents; 20 more live in backyard sheds. About 90 people are shoehorned into a massive construction trailer. The Red Cross announced this week it would move in to provide temporary help to the community. According to a physician who works on the reserve, children suffer from frequent infectious diseases, as well as lice and scabies, because of the close quarters. The children suffer frequent burns from makeshift wood stoves.
The temporary homes have no electricity and aren’t hooked up to sewers, so families are using buckets for toilets–dumping waste in the ditch.
“I often have to remind myself that I’m in Ontario and why are there two sets of standards for on-reserve and off-reserve health care?” said Dr. Elizabeth Blackmore.
The trailer is a disaster waiting to happen, says Bisson. It comprises forty 3-metre by 3-metre rooms. One family lives in each room. The doors are chained at night for security reasons.
“These are people. They’re citizens of Ontario and Canada. And we can’t treat people this way,” he said. “The province is unwilling to take the lead because they’re afraid they may get stuck with the bill and the feds don’t want to do anything — so they’re staring each other down,” he said.
One of the options is evacuating people to Timmins, but Spence says she can’t do that alone. She’s asked for help from the military and from both levels of government.
Kathleen Wynne, the minister responsible for aboriginal issues, says there’s been “confusion” about who has responsibility to send in emergency services.
“It’s extremely important to me that all of us who are involved be doing everything we can. But we can’t operate without the federal government,” she said. “I’m willing to work with them, but the federal government has to step up to the plate.”
Enough’s enough. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Politicians must stop pointing fingers — and end this shameful situation — right now.

christina.blizzard@sunmedia.ca

http://www.lfpress.com/comment/columnists/christina_blizzard/2011/11/28/19028356.html