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Rumors are rumors and as such they are always orphans. That is why I made it clear that it was a rumor. But you're right. We do everyone a disservice by spreading rumors. I will get the document and review it for myself and report back to this blog (hopefully this weekend).
If Buck is correct, she'll be vindicated. And I'll say that here. I think you'll agree this is fair.
If the rumors are true, I hope Buck publishes by comment and I certainly expect an apology from her for misleading the people of Aurora.
Stay tuned.
Visits have increased substantially. Whatever else it proves, it indicates people are interested in town affairs when town affairs are interesting.
Comments have spiked. Some do not contribute to debate so they are not posted. Why would I print hateful things friends of my enemies have to say about me?
I posted the one above to illustrate how spin evolves. He appears to be offering a compromise. He refers to me as Buck and repeats his contention that I have misled the community.
This term numerous lawyers have been retained because of something or other I have said in my authority as Councillor. It has been claimed I created the need for legal expenditures to protect the town from potential litigation. The Mayor repeatedly stated allegations had been made against a Councillor and the town might be sued. Presumably by a Councillor.
George Rust-D'Eye was paid $16,200 because a story appeared in the Auroran about the refusal of a request to sell land to the Regional Police for Police Headquarters in an in-camera meeting. The story appeared months after the decision. Long past time when it should have been reported out. It was just naturally assumed the culprit was known. Moi. Ce n'était pas moi.
Come to think of it, they never did report out the decision that cost Aurora the Regional Police Headquarters. It was kept a secret. As were George Rust D'Eye's $16,200 worth of "investigative" findings.
I believe I know the writer of the introductory comment. His name has been in the news lately. He's the only member of the cabal with any communication skills. He is close advisor and spinmeister supreme and Hell will freeze over before he twists and turns like a whirlygig in my space.
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I recently published a personal and unkind post about Councillor Wilson. A couple of hours later, overcome with remorse, I removed it. This weekend it was posted as a comment to the Aurora Citizen....twice. Councillor Wilson apparently did not see it when it was posted initially. A "friend" sent it to him. Was I the target of that particular piece of mischief or was Councillor Wilson?
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There have been comments in this blog about Councillor MacEachern's intelligence. Let me say; the Councillor is intelligent, intense and puts a great deal of effort into her responsibilities. She can be thoughtful and kind and not without humour. Children delight her.
Her skills involve private sector financial control. She is sufficiently confident to inspect roads recommended for reconstruction and advise council the work is not required. She exercises the same confidence in every town department.
Town budgets are heavily influenced by the Councillor.
Public Works overspent their budget in 2008 by half a million dollars. We learned of that tardily, accompanied by quite a juxtaposition of figures to hide how the failure came about.
We have $10.2 million dollars in a reserve account which can only be used for recreational purposes.Last year it was $9.million. Needed facilities have been repeatedly deleted from the budget even though the funds are available and can only be used for such a purpose.
We need to purchase land for future sports facilities. No more is being manufactured. But that too is repeatedly deleted from budgets. Councillor MacEachern has indicated it is better to keep the money and have it earn interest than spend it.
When the level of service in any area of the town's operation is reduced, we cannot claim the same need in new development charge calculations. From that perspective, holding the money in a reserve account to earn interest is misappropriation of funds.
The Councillor has a leadership role. Her skills are undeniable. Her adamant refusal to acknowledge expertise other than her own is a liability to the municipality.
The Councillor is intelligent, hard-working and completely confident her management is superior to anything found in the municipal corporation. She handles opposition poorly. We have new Directors in almost every town department. It remains to be seen how they succeed in the current environment.
There is a common perception in private business that public business is always mismanaged
It's wrong.
I had to read one paragraph twice before it made sense to me. The bit about your Wilson blog being posted on the Aurora Citizen....good point...were they trying to paint YOU as the bad guy for posting it, or were they trying to paint Wilson as the bad guy.
ReplyDeleteI don't suppose we'll ever know.
You've really been posting lots of comments lately...I'm impressed that people are being so civil. The Citizen seems to be going downhill.
Keep up the good work!
How could Wilson be painted as a bad guy?
ReplyDeleteAccording to you what you wrote was not flattering to Wilson.
Hard to understand how it would benefit him to publish it.
You know what was in it. I don't. Please explain.
To Anonymous 11:29 a.m.
ReplyDeleteI understand your feeling that "The Citizen" seems to be going downhill. My feeling is that there is a campaign to discredit the "Aurora Citizen" blog, so I just take those comments with a big grain of salt and sift through for civil discourse that might give me a different perspective on an issue.
Open minds seem to be scarce.
I come to Councillor Buck's blog for factual information.
I can't believe nobody has commented on this yet. I am not going to comment with my name, not because I don't believe you're doing the right thing, Evelyn, but because I don't want to get in trouble over this myself. I was an employee of the Town of Aurora.
ReplyDeleteI searched out this court document - I have a relative who works for the courts. You said it was an interoffice memo - it was an email, which I guess is an interoffice memo.
The email from Councillor Maceachern says something along the lines of "because your clients were referenced in this email from Councillor Buck, I thought you should know." I'm paraphrasing.
There wasn't a handwritten note attached to it, but that might have been attached to it by someone who forwarded a hard copy to you. Internally. But it wasn't me.
You should get a copy of the whole file. Your email to the top echelon town staff is what Councillor Maceachern sent on to the lawyers, the lawyers ON THE SIDE OF THE RESIDENTS. You said you didn't like the way the issue was being handled (again, paraphrasing). Councillor Maceachern should NOT have sent this. She sent it to the residents' lawyer, NOT the Town of Aurora's legal representatives.
I don't know who's side Councillor Maceachern is thinking she's on by sending along something like that. I have had emails from you in the past regarding work issues and my understanding was that they weren't to be shared outside of the town. Maybe the rules have changed since I moved on. Maybe you're no longer allowed to say what you think?
I don't have anything against any Councillor personally but I think it is wasteful to spend so much on lawyers. Has anyone ever come right out and just asked you what you think about the issue that started this? Maybe that's the way it should be done?
Best of luck! I like the pink hair!
Re: None Given Said
ReplyDeleteCouncilor Buck didn't call it an inter-office memo, she called it an inter-department memo and she said it had a hand written note attached. You must agree there's a world of difference between an inter-department memo and an email "to all councillors".
You're right about the email from Councilor MacEachern and it's preface: "because your clients were referenced in this email from Councillor Buck, I thought you should know." But I think you're trying to give Councilor Buck an out on the handwritten note. "There wasn't a handwritten note attached to it, but that might have been attached to it by someone who forwarded a hard copy to you. Internally. But it wasn't me." How could it be you, you don't work for the Town anymore. Do you think someone who work's for the courts attached the note?
And the part about the content of Councilor Buck's email, "You said you didn't like the way the issue was being handled (again, paraphrasing)", your paraphrasing needs some work. Councilor Buck said that the Mayor's Office was interfering. There was a contrived effort to deal with the matter behind closed doors and that the residents were acting illegally. I'm paraphrasing too.
I took the effort to summarize the document for readers of this blog, but Councilor Buck, chooses not to publish my comments.
Her refusal to publish the comments, her distancing herself from the original language used "inter-department memo" and your half truths make me all the more convinced that Councilor Buck made a serious error by dragging Councilor MacEachern's name through the mud, but she's not big enough to apologize. She thinks that twisting the story somemore will somehow make the truth go away.
But the truth is an amazing thing. No matter how deep you try to bury it. It always re-surfaces. No matter how much you try to distort it. It is resilient. No matter how many times you tell a lie - it never becomes the truth.
Councilor Buck, do you think you're the only one that knows you traded your vote for some very nice protraits?
"How could Wilson be painted as a bad guy?
ReplyDeleteAccording to you what you wrote was not flattering to Wilson.
Hard to understand how it would benefit him to publish it."
I think what everyone is wondering is whether someone posted the negative blog about Al Wilson on the Citizen to make Evelyn look bad for saying it or to make Al look bad because of the situation that transpired.
I don't think anyone thinks that Al posted it HIMSELF to the Citizen. I think someone who doesn't like him posted it. Or, someone who doesn't like Evelyn posted it. Right?
"Councilor Buck didn't call it an inter-office memo, she called it an inter-department memo and she said it had a hand written note attached. You must agree there's a world of difference between an inter-department memo and an email "to all councillors"."
ReplyDeleteI think that you're just trying to catch Councillor Buck on a technicality. The email she sent went to all councillors, yes, but it was directed at upper management of the town. Council and staff are two different 'departments'.
Someone who works for the courts didn't attach a note to the email. I know who did. But I didn't want to say that directly in case the comment somehow came through with my name or email on it and someone got in trouble. I don't work for the town anymore, but I did at the time. Check the date on the email.
Yes, Councillor Buck did say the Mayor's office was interfering. Yes she said there was ..everything else you've said in your comment.
Yes, Councillor Buck is fully entitled to say whatever she wants about the issues at hand.
Yes, Councillor Maceachern is fully entitled to say whatever she wants about the issues at hand, too.
Yes, the rest of us are fully entitled to say whatever we want about the issues at hand.
I just don't think it was smart for Councillor Maceachern to send the email, memo, interoffice memo, message, letter, etc to the lawyer that is on the OPPOSITE side of the issue. Do you? Was Councillor Maceachern trying to help the town lose the case? I know councillors are elected but it would be nice if everyone did things for the good of the town, even though everyone has different opinions the town should come first.
I think the whole thing should just be let go now.