"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Wednesday 15 September 2010

I Heard Something

Newmarket Councillors are paid $44,000. They also receive benefits.

Newmarket has a Mayor and a Regional Councillor who are elected at large. They have wards and seven ward councillors; the same size Council as Aurora.

Aurora Councillors receive $24,000 and no benefits except for the Mayor who receives $10,000 worth of benefits.

Running in a ward must certainly be a whole lot easier and less expensive for candidates in Newmarket than it is in Aurora.

We had a whole lot of talk about a ward system in Aurora earlier. Council decided not to put the question on the ballot so it isn't an issue.There were people though who thought it would be a better system.

I found the information about Council pay in Newmarket interesting. I thought you might think so too. I would guess they don't have the same working conditions up there either.

I am a member of the Joint Council Fire Committee with three Newmarket Councillors. They certainly are more congenial. Maybe it's because they are better paid.

Nah...I don't think that's it.

Jamie Young is not running again for Mayor of East Gwillimbury. Jamie hired a lawyer with another Councillor to deal with a Code Of Conduct complaint against them. It seems Mr.George Rust D'Eye told them they shouldn't attend Council meetings because it would be a conflict of interest. So they didn't.

It was the Chief Administrative Officer who filed the complaint.

East Gwillimbury was a shambles for a while until the people said...we've had enough of this...and that was the end of it.

Jamie and his wife are expecting a new baby in a couple of weeks. Apparently that's why he's not running again.

I should see if anybody up there wants to tell the story about the Code of Conduct kerfuffle in East Gwillimbury. Last I heard the Town was in for $11ks and no good came out of it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Evelyn:

Newmarket has a Mayor, a Regional Councillor and seven Ward Councillors.

Anonymous said...

I have had to deal with Newmarket council over the last 3 years. I have nothing but good things to say about them. They are the most agreeable, helpful bunch that I have ever seen.

This may sound sexist and it is not the intent, but the other difference is that they are all male. Anyone that has worked with women in senior management positions would have to agree that women have a different style of management - confrontatiional most times.

Anonymous said...

If I am correct in assuming that the mayor and regional councillor in Newmarket are not one and the same, I wonder why Aurora, a much smaller town has the same number of elected representatives.
I seriously believe that Aurora is top heavy both with elected politicians and senior staff for a town its size.
I know this topic has been chewed over in several fora but I just wanted to emphasize my view once again.

Anonymous said...

I was just wondering why Jaime Young had to hire a lawyer? What was the Code of Conduct complaint? Hmmmm???????