COUNCILLOR ADVOCATES FOR HOME OWNERS

It’s late in the third period and your team is down by three goals.  Or it’s the seventh inning, and the boys are down by four, your starter has been knocked out of the game, and your best player swinging the hottest bat was injured back in the third, yet remains in the game, albeit hobbled and a shadow of his regular self.

You’re at a Renfrew Town Council meeting, your eyes are stinging, and you’re questioning all the concepts of good governance you’ve ever learned and experienced.  You’re two-and-a-half hours into the meeting, and you’re convinced that if you stay any longer, it may become a police matter, or a health matter, or both.

So you leave the rink.  Shut off the television.  Gather your belongings and leave.

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COMMITTEE COMPOSITION AND ATTENDANCE

Are there attendance requirements for members of municipally-mandated committees?

I understand that people are busy, and I further understand that there ought to be some degree of flexibility when it comes to balancing a person’s personal and occupational life with the requirements of being involved in a committee.

That said, what’s the point of a committee, made up of a number of “civilians,” when half the civilians aren’t present at the meeting?

The last Economic Development Advisory Committee was held a week ago, and had it not been for the presence of town staff and a pair of councillors, the room would have been essentially empty, with only three non-council and non-staff members present.  It may be enough for a quorum, but it’s not enough to satisfy the requirements of a mature and responsible advisory committee.  And by the way, a quorum is a minimum requirement, and doesn’t in any way convey a sense of responsible government.  It simply sets a minimum standard, but is in no way to be confused with effectiveness of purpose.  We’re better when we have the whole team on the bench, and weaker when we don’t.

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COUNCILLOR ASKS FOR BAFN REPORT

Props and bravo to John McDonald.

The Renfrew councillor introduced a motion whereby town staff is to identify and and provide all relevant documentation outlining the relationship existing between the Town of Renfrew and the Bonnechere Algonquin First Nation, especially as it pertains to the BAFN presence at Ma-Te-Way.

This is one of two items I requested information on last October, but was told to go stuff myself by Clerk Carolynn Errett and former Acting CAO Kelly Latendresse on the grounds that the request was “political” in nature.  And staff doesn’t do political.  They told me to direct the question to Council instead.  Which was really cool because that was the very body that refused to even acknowledge my request in the first place, much less respond to it.

But now, after eight months, a real live councillor, John McDonald, is going to take a crack at it.

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STATIONWALA RELEASES RVH REPORT

Corporate expense accounts have been around for as long as corporations have been around, so it’s no big surprise that top executives at Renfrew Victoria Hospital — RVH — had expense accounts.  And as far as corporate accounts go, there’s always been the requirement that receipts be gathered and tendered to back up any expense claims.  It’s simply just a part of good corporate governance.

Often, senior officers in a corporation or other high-level institutions need to get out of their offices and connect with other people in the interests of, and often at the behest of, the corporation that they represent.  There’s absolutely nothing unusual about that practice, and you can’t expect people to pay out-of-pocket for expenses incurred in representing the corporation.  But again, just keep those receipts.

Because corporate credit cards and the honour system are a really poor match.

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RUNAWAY WATER BILL

Generally speaking, the movement of fluids throughout a home can be heard by occupants of the home, whether it be forced air from the furnace, the air conditioner kicking out comfort on a blazing hot day, or water moving through the pipes doing the chores that water does.

Watering the lawn with a sprinkler, watering the plants and shrubs and flowers, and filling the pool are all uses of water where the occupants of the home can hear, as much as see.  If the hose is being used outside, you can hear the water moving under pressure from the inside.

Doing the dishes by hand, or using a dishwasher also produces the sounds of fluids in motion, again in this case water.  Taking a shower, drawing a bath, shaving, these all require water, and therefore also make enough sound to be noticeable to anyone in the home.

Either the flushing of a toilet, or a toilet that doesn’t complete the flushing cycle all make water-in-motion noises.  So too does every faucet in the house when in use.

My point here is that we generally have a pretty good idea when our water usage is in action, mostly because we can hear it as much as we can see it.  So if the water was running, from whatever source, for six consecutive days without reprieve, then we’d have some notice of it, with our ears as much as our eyes.

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FLOODING ON HAIG

Just imagine.

A house that’s been there for decades, right here in Renfrew.  Property taxes paid diligently and on time, same thing with the water bill.  Never, ever, in all that time, has there ever had a problem with water in the basement.  Never.

Along comes the year 2023, and the Town of Renfrew has undertaken to pave the road outside this home.  It’s absolutely thrilling.  The street the house is on, Haig Avenue, hasn’t been a safe coffee-drinking road in a long time with all the hills, valleys, and moguls.  But now, the town in going to put down some fresh asphalt, sprucing up the entire neighbourhood, and likely having a positive impact on property values. 

Honestly, what’s not to like?

The engineering, that’s what.

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INDISPENSABLE? INDEFENSIBLE?

The first thing I noticed was the seating plan. 

As a former teacher, changes to seating plans were almost traumatic events for students since they had no idea what neighbourhood of the classroom they may be calling their new home, and, of course, had no idea of who their new neighbours might be.  No matter the intent behind the seating shift, it was inevitable that some students would be delighted by the change, with others less so.  And the major determining factor as to whether you were a “winner” or a “loser” was entirely social, and having to do with friends, or possibly a lack thereof.

I tuned in to the Renfrew Town Council live-feed after-the-fact, viewing it this morning rather than putting myself through the whole death by a thousand cuts experience you get when you attend in person.  And the first thing I noticed was what I call the head table, the one where the big cheeses sit, the mayor — Head of Council — the CAO, and the Clerk.

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MAYOR WRITES THE PREMIER OVER SMP

Things can  happen fast in River City.

I wrote a story a couple of days ago lamenting, once again, the granting of Strong Mayor powers to the mayor of Renfrew, Tom Sidney.  I further lamented the dearth of a legitimate critical media locally that could offer some oversight and accountability to the whole thing.  I mean, if it has to be (SMP or Strong Mayor Power) then we should at least have some form of robust and critically diligent media in place to keep everyone honest.  It looked as though we were destined for the SMP, but not so much for the critical media.

Forty-eight hours go by.  I go to North Bay, then on to Sudbury.  I write a story about bears.  I return to Renfrew, go online because it’s Tuesday, and I know Town Council is going to be meeting Tuesday night, so I kind of want to get the skinny on what may be happening by taking a peek at the agenda.

That’s where I found it, page 116 to be exact, right there in the middle of the haystack, as if it were no big deal at all.

It was a letter from the mayor to the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford.

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“EVERYONE HAS A BEAR STORY”

I was on the road to Sudbury, and CBC Radio was keeping me company.

Claire Cameron was a guest on The Current, a daily show on CBC.  Claire is the author of a book, actually a memoir, entitled “How To Survive A Bear Attack.”  It certainly got me thinking.

She worked as a teenager in Algonquin Park, so when she heard about a young couple being killed in the park by a black bear a couple of decades ago, she took an extraordinarily keen interest in the story and began what she would call her “investigation.”

People manage to die in Algonquin Park every year, mostly as a result of their own negligence, and sometimes as a result of extreme health events, like heart attacks.  For the most part, though, park fatalities will come from health failures, allergies, drowning, and even the car or truck ride just getting to the park.  Way down the list of potentially fatal episodes are death through bear attack.  In fact, it almost never happens.

It definitely happened to that young couple though, and it became apparent that the bear was drawn by their careless storage of food where they had set up camp.  Death, in such circumstances, is a tough penalty to pay for such an oversight, but bears don’t employ that level of higher-order thinking when they’re out and about, almost always searching for, well, food.

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STRONG MAYOR + WEAK MEDIA

What do you get when you simultaneously have a strong mayor and a weak or non-existent media?

This isn’t a joke, where there’s some amusing punchline to follow that question.  This is a joke because this is what happens when the wool is being thrown over our collective eyes.

I’ve already written about strong mayors, about that senseless move by Premier Doug Ford to empower mayors unnecessarily, while at the same time seriously undermining local and municipal democracy.

This comes from a populist premier who champions things like “a buck a beer” and drinking alcohol in public parks.  He’s the guy that allowed alcohol sales in corner and grocery stores, without fully mapping out how all those empties are going to be collected and processed.  He spent millions in penalties to the Beer Store to break an agreement already on place just to get that booze into those stores.  All this from a guy who doesn’t drink himself.

Ford is a guy who moves based upon whatever the last horoscope might have said, or whatever the last lobbyist may have promised.  He’ll bash ahead with his newly-discovered mission until we make him stop.  Then he apologizes, gives us the patented “Gee, golly, shucks,” and we forgive him for it, even giving him credit for having the political courage to admit when he’s wrong.

He is the quintessential ask for forgiveness rather than ask for permission kind of fellow.

And full disclosure, I’ve voted for him.  Not every time, mind you, but I have.

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