Tuesday, June 17, 2014

THIS COUNCIL LISTENS TO THE PEOPLE

BREAKING NEWS:

Judge in Conflict of Interest case against the four councillors dies. Superior Court Judge Barry Matheson died Monday following complications from heart surgery.  



Despite Rick Shular and Stephen Passero heaping praise on town staff for the advances made, it was this council that has made a big difference in this town. Let's start with the almost $1 million in the reserve fund. Staff certainly was efficient, but they were directed by council. The result: a good, healthy reserve fund, so healthy that the town gave $500,000 to the struggling race track.

Monday night's council provided a great example of what happens when a council listens to the will of the people. Three delegations, one carrying a petition, appeared at council regarding the potential donation of public land by the town to the District School Board of Niagara. The parcel of land in question sits on Rebstock Road and is part of a larger piece of land donated to the Kinsmen by a Mrs. Hebert way back in 1967.  Her only wish was that it be used for "recreational purposes only."  The Kinsmen re-iterated that promise when the property was taken over by the then Bertie Township and Crystal Beach in 1972. Following amalgamation, it was absorbed by the new Town of Fort Erie, but the promise remained and the land was used for an ice rink, a new library, community centre, football field and baseball diamond. Plans have been in the making for other recreational uses of the land. Then the DSBN decided to amalgamate its primary schools. Instead of using existing sites, it chose  to look to the part of the property that fronts on Rebstock for its future new school. That choice would have entailed the town donating a portion of the property and the other needed acreage would be bought from nearby property owners.  When the donation  was first passed as a resolution; residents were not fully aware of the implications of the donation.  Soon, they discovered that the new school on that parcel of land went against everything that the original donor requested. If the new build would have gone ahead on Rebstock, the DSBN would have three empty schools, two in Ridgeway and one in Crystal Beach. So, the people, represented by a parent, a neighbour and a well-known community volunteer came before council and pled their case. 

And, in the end, they convinced council to change its stance on the property and to withdraw its previous offer. Council decided in closed session that the DSBN should employ its second option: to build the new elementary school on the present site of Ridgeway Elementary on Ridge Road just down the block from the library, etc. 

Now that's how a council is supposed to react to the people's request.

Also, in closed session, the contentious purchase of "industrial lands" from the owner of the Fort Erie Race Track was deferred once again. This one stinks of "bonusing." Apparently some councillors are withholding support. Hard to say exactly because of the privacy of the closed session.

8 comments:

  1. paying attention and taxesJune 17, 2014 at 8:25 PM

    and from what I understood happened at last night's Council Meeting, our mayor couldn't say for sure whether or not US taxpayers are to pay for edtc leader Jim Thibert's Conflict of Interest charge against Councillor Don Lubberts.

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    1. Thibert said: “We haven’t received any bills from the lawyer yet, so when we do, me and the board (of the EDTC) will decide where to send the bill,” said Thibert when asked who is funding the new case against Lubberts. He also noted that while Hurren does in fact represent the EDTC and the Fort Erie Race Track, he does not personally act for Thibert.

      Niagara This Week

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    2. so yet again we are paying to sue ourselves (through our our elected representatives, our local voice) by the most conflict ridden official here!!No irony there is there. He's not elected and answers to no one....., FIRE HIS USELESS EXPENSIVE ASS, a decade plus of Jimmie is enough. Let him move on to another sucker community. Its all he knows. Millions down the crapper for nothing. This would have fixed the pool, the lighthouse, the firehall, the beach etc etc etc

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    3. Your right Corruption fighter, when he was working directly for the Town he was on the Sunshine list and that was a few years ago. So over the past 10 years he has easily made over a million dollars from us and we basically have NOTHING to show for it! Except business have been leaving even before 2010. He has also enjoyed some nice trips on our dime as well.

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  2. The council in my opinion made the right decision on the school issue, I attended one of those meetings , I told the attendees that the school board was not a benevolent organisation, They closed down the old Black Creek School , because they said they could save ten thousand dollars by closing the school down,and bus the 55 kids to Stevensville School. they closed the School down in 1977. That fall they bussed the children to Stevensville, one big problem, they did not have room for the kids, so they rented portable units and put them in the school yard, which is a small area, after a while the kids started getting breathing problems from mold and dust, so they then decided to build an addition onto the Stevensville School.so they tried to save ten thousand dollars and wound up spending over half a million dollars . sheer stupidity. The Black Creek School land was donated by A.C. Douglas founder of Douglastown , so the board would not give the property back to A.C.Douglas for a Community Centre they sold it for top dollar. It took us 9 years to get that building back, and it now is a viable Community Centre.owned by the people of the Black Creek area.

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  3. If I have read this right Mr Thibert is assuming that the EDTC is going to pay his legal bill for his claim against Mr Lubberts. His lawsuit is personal not EDTC sanctioned . So why has the Town been put in a position whereby the Taxpayers monies that they give to the EDTC are now being used as a personal legal fund for the head of the EDTC. Are the board members of the EDTC educated enough to know that this is not okey? If they are not then they are just as bad as any other appointed representative who has little or no concern for how tax payer monies are spent. They should be dismissed & maybe the EDTC liquidated.

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  4. Rumour floating around about a new lawsuit against four. The difference is that the lawsuit is against four others rather than the four councillors currently being sued for conflict of interest. May be for "malicious prosecution." Stay tuned.

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