A Bit Of Light On The Subject

It has been suggested an e-mail circulated by myself to all councillors that took a one and a half hours to write must be discussing town business by e-mail and that would be inappropriate. I am providing said e-mail for readers to judge.

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Good Morning Bob,

The Mayor has circulated your e-mail to council along with John McIntyre's comments about the time citizens have been involved in the town's heritage.

Indeed it goes back farther.

Les Oliver almost single-handed carried the torch in the early years of my involvement. Before that, Les's father 's hobby had been to create a photographic record of every elderly structure in Aurora,leaving Les a rich volume of streets and buildings.

I was the Council member on the first L.A.C.A.C.when the work of local heritage buffs was first recognised by the provincial government.

Council is going to review advisory committees and I'm sure input will be welcome. We have an enthusiastic council. Everyone is looking forward to knowing every part of the town's business.

At this point, I have only one firm position on committees. The Municipal Act permits Council to appoint citizens to advise. The committees must have a greater number of elected members than non-elected.Since the elected are the only ones accountable for decisions made I believe the Act is sound. I do not understand how the town went off base in this regard.

I also do not favour large committees.

John McIntyre is right. Staff cannot always handle the work load. Since Jackie Stewart retired and was no longer the main source for research as well as being the curator and providing an excellent and meaningful museum program for the community,a full-time permanent heritage planner has been  added to planning staff complement. We also retain consultants to carry out such as the North-east Heritage Neighbourhood Study.

The town has never neglected it's heritage. Awards and accolades are well-deserved by the community. Without community support none of it would have been possible.

I have heard from a great number of people in support of my determination to restore the museum to its rightful place. With the exception of yourself, I have received no expressions of support from members of the former Heritage Advisory Committee. I've long thought John McIntyre's interest was confined to his own immediate neighbourhood.John is an elitist.

Bob, I am writing this long epistle for the benefit of my colleagues. There is never enough time to fill in on history. There are nine councillors and nobody has a right to monopolise the time that's available.

I think it's a good thing to review how we are doing things. I think the best time is when a new council is elected.

The town's administration has an interest in how advisory committees function.

When Jackie was curator of the museum,theoretically she was employed by the historical society. The town paid a good part of the salary with a $50K annual grant and made it possible to provide benefits by being part of staff complement. When Jackie was asked for research assistance by the planning deparment, the service was willingly provided. It was an informal but odd arrangement that worked very well.

Now we have a heritage planner,an employee of the town, not subject in any way to direction from an advisory committee. It is an area of potential conflict that needs to be sorted out and not only with the Heritage Committee.

So,things have changed over the years and it's time to look again at the way we're doing it and make sure it's right.

I have no doubt there will be an opportunity for input .That's another thing that makes Aurora different.

Patience, Mon Ami

Regards

Have a great day. It will not come again.