Elsewhere It's Theft

In other places, the U.K. to be specific, theft of electricity is a common offence. People rig the wiring to bypass their meters.

In Aurora, the practice has been sanctioned by the Mayor and a council majority.

I am talking about the recent decision to hook up three lights belonging to Canadian Tire to the town's street lighting circuit. We don't know yet if Canadian Tire will permit it. Residents of the Mosaic Town House project have to approach the retailer to get his permission.

It all happened like this; at the last meeting of the last council prior to the election, an angry resident came to council and demanded the Town order Canadian Tire to turn the lights back on. For whatever reason, parking lot lights were being extinguished at ten-thirty p.m. The three lights in question illuminate an easement belonging to Canadian Tire that runs along the south side of their building . The resident was furious. Canadian Tire had to be ordered to keep those lights on.

Well, sure enough as soon as the election was over, in order of priority, after new desks were ordered for the councillors' office, there was immediate action by the mayor to "find a solution to the problem". The Planning Director, the Works Director, Canadian Tire the resident and the Mayor convened in an on site meeting. Council had already been advised by staff this was a private dispute. There had been an unsuccessful attempt to mediate by the Director of Public Works. The Town had no authority in the matter. The meeting did not produce a solution.

Months went by, one resident grew to five, the Mayor kept striving to find a way for the town to take ownership of " the problem". Finally, after many many hours of high price staff research of land titles the following information was unearthed:

Three parties share the Canadian Tire site. There are tri-party agreements There are seven pages of dispute resolution mechanisms attached to the agreements. The easement is intended for emergency access only . There had been previous communication between the parties which ended in stalemate.

Staff emphasized once again - The Town has neither authority nor responsibility to intervene or resolve the dispute.

No matter. Councillors, in the majority, disregarded the advice and declared the safety of residents at stake. We must ride to their rescue blowing our trumpets along the way.

Hence the decision. The town will rig the wiring, take power from street lighting and feed it to Canadian Tire's parking illumination. And no doubt maintain lights on private property forever and a day at taxpayers' expense.

And step right on up folks, take your best shot and win a valuable prize from the town's treasury. There are no limits and no rules that can't be changed or ignored to fit the circumstances.