Mestrinaro

The name should be familiar. At the beginning of the term, Mr. Mestrinaro and two neighbours came repeatedly before council to argue they knew better than staff how rules and regulations are interpreted.

As residents of Ridge Rd they had concerns about Aurora Cable's three windmill turbines on their property.

Town zoning permits the turbines on the property. Cable equipment is so fine -tuned it was being damaged by brown-outs in power. ACI needed a stable energy supply and they erected the turbines and had power storage on a trailer with wheels to provide it.

Mestrinaro argued they were not opposed to turbines. That would have been difficult considering the religiosity of environmental concerns at the time.

They claimed instead they were concerned about dangers of storage and that the trailer did not conform to zoning.

Back they came again and again. Each time the Mayor permitted the challenges to staff. In particular, Chief Building Official Tesh Van Leeuwen and Planning Director Sue Seibert.

After months of harassment, ACI said;

"Enough already We are not attending any more on-site meetings with any more officials on the pretext of finding a solution to the problem. There is no problem."

With a final shot, Councillor MacEachern moved a resolution requesting staff to write a report giving the definition of the word "storage".

The Chief Building Official followed that direction. She wrote a report providing three dictionary definitions . It was received without comment.

Councillor MacEachern and Mr. Mestrinaro were tandem candidates in a previous election.

Who knows the influence on ACI's decision to sell the operation they fostered so carefully over more than forty years. They were a valuable contributor to our town's social and business community. They are missed.

Subsequent to that episode Mr. Mestrinaro was appointed, four votes opposed, to the Committee of Adjustment. The Committee is a quasi-judicial body required to make decisions on the basis of evidence which must be solicited and provided by the town's professional staff.

Mr. Mestrinaro appeared again before Council in Committee on Tuesday. He had made a bid for a second contract to provide a service to the town. .

Being an elected or appointed official does not prohibit a person in business from making a bid for town business.

However, it is required that such an official must stand well back and exempt themselves from influencing the award of the contract

Mr. Mestrinaro was successful in his first bid to manufacture the metal supports for picnic tables and benches.

He was not successful in the second for metal support for bleachers which are tiered seating

For obvious reasons, Provincial Regulations require such manufacture to be constructed by a company with proper credentials for doing so. Documentation is a requirement under the contract . It was not provided.

Mr. Mestrinaro is apparently convinced he understands the town's procurement policy better than town staff. Nothing would satisfy him but that once again he should take his argument to a meeting of council- in- committee.

Which happened on Tuesday .

With the result it will be recommended to Council that staff be directed to write a report for information of Council outlining the requirements of the Town's Procurement Policy.

The prohibition on an elected or appointed official from participating in a decision resulting in a pecuniary benefit was apparently not perceived as a problem in the case of Mr. Mestrinaro.

Last time I pointed out the impropriety of Mr. Mestrinaro's repeated attacks on the competence and authority of the town's professional advisers, Councillor MacEachern erupted in outrage that a town citizen would be so disrespected.